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The Redeeming 
Purpose of God 

INCLUDING 

i 

A Statement of the Scriptural Idea of the 
Doctrine of Holiness and Its Advance- 
ment in the Church 


BY 

DAVID MORTON SMASHEY 

AUTHOR OF “MORMONISM UNMASKED." 


And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make 
you free. — Jesus. 


CHICAGO: 

THE GOODSPEED PRESS 
1913 


jTft 5 
.^6 


COPYRIGHT, 1913, 

BY DAVID MORTON SMASHEY 


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©CI.A357231 

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IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF 
MY WIFE, WHO GAVE HER 
LIFE IN THE ADVANCEMENT 
OF THE KINGDOM OF OUR 


LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST 



FOREWORD 


The chief object of this volume is to show the way 
of salvation, which contemplates God’s eternal purpose 
concerning man. 

In no way is there any claim of originality for the 
plan of this volume. It is the result of patient reading 
and study of many of the writings of the most able 
divines on the plan of salvation during the last thirty 
years in the Christian ministry. 

The author has studied to know the truth and noth- 
ing but the truth, and hopes that these well-meant 
truths will be kindly received by all Christians. 

The prayers of the reader are solicited that the bless- 
ing of God may rest on the book and the author. 















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CONTENTS 


ChapteS Page 

I. Redemption Provided - -- -- -- n 

II. The Gospel Plan of Salvation - - - 21 

III. God's Method of Saving Sinners - - - 27 

IV. The Greatest Theme of All - - - - 39 

V. The Greatest Theme of All — Continued 53 

VI. An Uttermost Salvation ------ 61 

VII. Christ's Method of Teaching Holiness 75 

VIII. Paul's Method of Teaching Holiness 81 

IX. Holiness God's Choice for the Moral 

Condition of Man ------ 99 

X. Holiness Attainable - -- -- -- 1 13 

XI. A Theology Incompatible with the New 

Birth ----------- 131 

XII. The Deity of Christ 147 

XIII. The Sonship of Jesus ------- 165 

XIV. Christ Our Pattern - 171 

XV. The Ideal Man - -- -- -- -- 175 

XVI. Doing the Will of God ------ 181 

XVII. The Gospel Message ------- 191 

XVIII. A Message to the Unsaved ----- 205 

XIX. Paul's Teaching in the Seventh Chapter 

of Romans - -- -- -- -- 213 

XX. St. John's Teaching in His First Epistle 221 



The Redeeming Purpose of God 


CHAPTER 1 

REDEMPTION PROVIDED 

In the doctrine of salvation we have the solution of 
one of the oldest and most stressful questions pro- 
pounded to man. It is the first, the greatest, and the 
most important subject that can be presented to the 
human intellect. More important than this Infinite Wis- 
dom has nothing to teach ; greater than this man 
has nothing to learn. In the investigation of any 
subject we must have a correct standard if we are to 
proceed discriminately, and reach any well defined and 
consistent conclusion. An assertion proves nothing. 
Simply to deny or affirm without some underlying funda- 
mental principle as an accepted rule of judging can 
never rid ourselves of confusion, error, and falsehood, or 
fix upon any valuable point of facts. A fair-minded per- 
son is willing for his belief to be sifted and tested to the 
uttermost, for he knows the truth will stand any real, 
legitimate test. Then, too, the more truth is tested, the 
more it is seen to be the truth. There are some who have 
written quite extensively on the plan of salvation, but 
have discussed the subject without basic facts, or any 
standard of truth. Such persons are not safe thinkers 
for the people on so vital a subject as that of human 
destiny. 


II 


12 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


Whatever else may be our weakness in discussing 
this vital question we shall adhere strictly to the funda- 
mental principles of sound philosophy, common sense, and 
Bible facts. That which is false in moral philosophy 
cannot be true in the plan of human redemption. We 
come now to the plan of human redemption, as proposed 
by the Almighty. 

Purpose of Design. We believe that God’s purpose 
of design in the plan of salvation was to save the human 
race. The divine purpose is first to save the man then 
men. In the plan of redemption God has pledged to do 
for the race what He does for the individual man. In 
Gen. 3:15 we find that God there contemplated a sac- 
rifice for the whole of humanity. Our blessed Redeemer 
has made that true sacrifice which is not one of exclu- 
sion, but of an infinite and joyous inclusion. The plan 
of salvation embraces one common purpose, namely, the 
salvation of the whole human race. The infinite love of 
God would lead Him to save all men ; for the reason 
infinite love cannot have respect of persons. 

God’s redeeming love embraces the earth and the ful- 
ness thereof, all the inhabitants of the earth, all nations, 
classes, and kindreds of mankind — the whole human race, 
Jew and Gentile, white and black, brown and tawny, all 
mankind. 

The following principles laid down and con- 
clusions deduced by Dr. Adam Clarke is a masterpiece 
of logic and fundamental facts : 

1. He [God] is the Creator of all. 2. He made of one 
flesh and blood all nations of the whole earth. 3. He mads 
man in His own image and likeness that he might be happy. 
4. In this original purpose, and creating act, He had in view 
all the posterities of that one human pair which He created. 
None were created but Adam and Eve; all the rest came by 
natural generation from those two. There were no distinctions 


REDEMPTION PROVIDED 


13 


of original families, created at different times or for different 
purposes; two persons only were created and whatever was 
designed for them was necessarily designed for the whole of 
their posterity, all of whom were seminally included in this 
first, and only created pair; being properly and physically and 
,a part of themselves and continued partakers of their being. 
And as God intended that man should spring from man after 
this creation, so He considered them as one stock, one family, 
of which Himself was the Father, and the Head; and however 
He might in His Providence scatter them over the earth, assign 
them different habitations, and different bounds to those habita- 
tions yet, in reference to their immortal spirits and their eternal 
states, He made no distinctions; but, as declared here, willed 
the salvation of all; for all men necessarily takes in the whole 
posterity of the first pair, and that posterity is a continuation 
and extension of the being of the human stock. It cannot 
appear strange, therefore, that God should will all men to be 
saved; for this necessarily follows from His willing the salvation 
of any; for that nature has not been divided and every portion 
of it falls equally under the merciful regard of the Father of 
the spirits of all flesh. When God proposed the creation of 
man He willed his happiness, and therefore gave them such a 
kind of being, endued with such capacities and perfections as 
could be brought into intimate communion with Himself and 
were capable of receiving such influences, or emanations from 
the divine perfections, as to constitute an incredible sum of 
^intellectual happiness. When man sinned and lost by trans- 
gression that righteousness and true holiness which constituted 
the image of God in which he was created, and so lost his 
happiness and became sinful and miserable, God, who is an 
invariable source of benevolence toward His intelligent off- 
spring willed his salvation, which implies that state of darkness, 
sinfulness and misery, into which he had fallen; his restoration 
/to the divine favor, by being again made partaker of the divine 
image, and consequently his restoration to that state of happi- 
ness, which he had lost by sin. Therefore, His willing the 
salvation of all men is only a consequence and revealed ex- 
pression of that will or divine determination that the human 
creature, that which He had designed to make, should be a 
happy being, and as he was originally, because he was holy, 
so God designed to restore him to holiness, that he might 
repossess that happiness which was his portion in the beginning 
of the creation of God. Whatever new forms this design might 


14 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


assume or through whatever new circumstances it was necessary 
to be manifested, it was still essentially the same in itself, and 
invariably with regard to its object. 

This is a conclusive argument founded upon funda- 
mental principles, and should satisfy any unbiased mind. 

As a further proof that the divine intention was to 
save the whole human race the Word of God has posi- 
tively declared it to be a fact. St. Paul says, “He [Jesus] 
died for all.” “He tasted death for every man.” “This 
is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; 
who will have all men to be saved, and come unto the 
knowledge of the truth” (I Tim. 2:3-4). “He is the 
Savior of all men, especially of those who believe,” 
for “He gave himself a ransom for all.” Thus the Word 
of God makes a place in the plan of redemption for all 
men. Here let it be observed that by no legitimate mode 
of interpretation of Scripture here or elsewhere can it be 
truthfully said that Christ died for any select chosen or 
elect part of the human family exclusively, but for all 
mankind. Moreover the plain and forcible declaration 
of Christ Himself is a positive proof that the purpose of 
God in the scheme of redemption was to save all man- 
kind. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his 
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 
3:16). Here is a fact so thoroughly undisputed and in- 
disputable that Christ’s incarnation and shed blood was 
for the whole world. Furthermore, the 17th, 18th, and 
19th verses are proof that Christ died not only for those 
who believe, but also for those who will or do not be- 
lieve and finally perish. Read Rom. 14:15; I Cor. 8:11. 

Once more, the universal invitation for all men to 
accept Christ as their personal Savior is another proof 
that the plan of salvation is for the human race. Rev. 
22:17: “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life 


REDEMPTION PROVIDED 


15 


freely.” Literally, whatever person ; any person, man or 
woman, Jew or Gentile, whoever he or she may be, may 
be saved if he will be, for all mankind are included in 
the Gospel invitation. God’s willingness to save all men 
is proved from the command for all men to repent. 
“Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 
1 3 : 3 ~ 5 ) • Mark 16:16. The command to believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ in order that we might have eternal 
life, and condemnation or damnation if we refuse to do 
so, warrants the fact that God intended to save all men. 

The incarnation is another proof that the divine in- 
tention in the plan of redemption was to save the human 
race. The Son of God took human nature that all who 
possessed that nature might be saved. The Son of 
God became the Son of man that all the sons of Adam 
might become the sons of God. The whole ministry of 
the incarnate Son of God was for the entire human 
family. The wisdom, holiness, and goodness of the 
Triune God are eternally concerned and energetically 
employed in the work of human redemption. Divine 
Revelation has assured us that it is the will of God that 
all men might have divine life. I Tim. 2:6, “Who gave 
himself a ransom for all.” 

We come now to consider: 

1. The purpose of result in the plan of redemp- 
tion. 

2. The purpose of result is the divine method of 
saving the individual. 

The purpose of result implies the application of the 
atonement to one’s own personal redemption. This 
implies the essential act of receiving Christ by faith. 
Redemption through faith is the saving effect of the 
atonement. The teachings of Christ are proof that our 
personal salvation depends on faith in Him. “He that 


1 6 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

believeth on him is not condemned : but he that believeth 
not is condemned already’’ (John 3:18). 

All who do not believe perish without hope, because 
they wilfully and persistently refuse to receive Christ; 
and all who obediently believe have everlasting life. 

It becomes a personal matter if we would share in 
the atoning merit of Christ’s blood to yield obedience 
and by faith apply the cleansing blood of Jesus and ex- 
perience personal salvation. St. Paul says, “Unto obedi- 
ence and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” 

We have shown that God’s purpose of salvation 
embraces the whole human race; that the work of Jesus 
Christ and all its saving benefits were truly provided 
alike for all mankind ; but it is equally true that no man 
will be benefited by the atonement unless he personally 
applies to Christ and through faith appropriates the 
merit of Christ’s blood. “He that believeth shall be 
saved” is a fact sustained by voluminous and indubitable 
evidence from the Word of God. 

Then, too, the awakening call to each and every 
sinner is another proof that salvation is conditional and 
is dependent upon man’s personal volitional act of com- 
ing to Christ for salvation. “Come unto me,” says 
Jesus, “and I will give you rest.” 

The Spirit’s awakening call in Rev. 22: 17 bears wit- 
ness to this fact: “And the Spirit and the bride say. 

Come And whosoever will let him take the 

water of life freely.” In John 3:16-21 our Lord has very 
clearly placed before us two facts, namely: 1. That 
they who believe in Him shall be saved. 2. That they 
who do not or will not believe in Him shall be damned. 
Furthermore, we can trace out these two facts in the 
parables of Christ and His general teaching. Read 
Matt., chapter 25, also Luke 16: 19-31, and like parables 


REDEMPTION PROVIDED 


n 

which make clear as human language can possibly state 
a fact, namely, that the righteous shall enter into “life 
eternal” and that the wicked shall go into endless or 
everlasting punishment. The righteous have been loving, 
faithful, obedient servants of God ; the wicked have been 
slothful and disobedient. 

We have noted the fact of a just retribution else- 
where. 

The Scriptures point out redemption from eternal 
punishment, and the sanctification of the soul. Through 
the fall man was rendered guilty and impure. As guilty, 
he needs pardon, which cannot come by the law. As un- 
holy or impure, he needs cleansing, that he may be holy; 
without which no man shall see God. As God is the 
author of holiness and of man’s being, if He save 
man at all it is essential to His honor and the plan of 
redemption that the soul be pardoned of guilt that he 
might be rendered innocent in the estimation of the law 
and the eyes of God, and also that he might be cleansed 
from all moral corruption ; that sin and Satan might not 
only have no triumph, but that sin might be destroyed 
and Satan eternally confounded. Anything less than 
salvation from all inward and outward sin could not 
have entered into the plan of human redemption. The 
following facts shut us up to this conclusion : I. Man in 
the beginning had no more holiness and perfection than 
was suitable to and necessary for the nature of his being, 
and the end for which he was created, for the reason 
there could be nothing redundant in man for that would 
argue want of material ; and there could be no defect in 
man for this would mean that God was lacking in skill. 
Man was made complete in the image of God, so that 
there could be no defect in him. Now if God redeem 
man at all the eternal fitness of things demands that he 


l8 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

be brought back into the same state of holiness in which 
he was originally created. If man be not thus saved 
from his fallen state God’s design in his creation will not 
only be unfulfilled, but the devil has done a work that 
the Almighty cannot undo. 2. But when we consider 
that the wisdom, holiness, goodness, and omnipotence of 
Jehovah are immediately and energetically employed in 
the work of human redemption, notwithstanding the 
malevolence of Satan and the infernal contagion of sin, 
the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse the soul from all its 
spiritual disease and eternally confound Satan. 

The Scriptures further point out the Lord Jesus, 
the Almighty’s Fellow, who was conceived by the Holy 
Ghost, and was thus made the God-man, the Mediator 
between God and man, and all who by faith in Him and 
filial obedience to Him are saved from sin. 

Thus God has found a suitable mediator, who is no 
less a personage than the eternal and only begotten 
Son of God, the only Mediator between God and man; 
who has made a full and complete atonement for sin, 
that He might produce in man a state of purity. The 
means proposed by the Almighty should forever settle 
this question. That redemption necessarily involves I. 
Justification from all sins. That is, man is guilty and 
needs pardon. 2 . It implies entire sanctification. That is, 
man is not only guilty on account of his commission of 
sin, but he is by nature born polluted and needs cleansing. 
These two fundamental doctrines are quite thoroughly 
discussed in other portions of this volume. 

It is certain that God in His goodness made man in 
His own image, capable of communion with Him- 
self. He could have continued in this relationship with 
his Creator forever. However, he chose evil and dis- 
obeyed God. The goodness of God would not suffer sin 
to be without a remedy. This principle is the very foun- 


REDEMPTION PROVIDED 


19 


dation of man’s salvation. Infinite mercy and goodness 
must interpose for fallen man, else he must eternally 
perish. This remedial measure provided for sin was not 
almost satisfactory, but one adequate to redeem from sin 
and restore to the divine image. This we assume for the 
following reasons : 

1. The mercy and goodness of God suggested the 
plan. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only 
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life.” 

2. His infinite wisdom devised the plan. Nothing 
less than infinite intelligence could have found out a plan 
all-sufficient, all-comprehensive, all-embracing; in a 
word, absolutely perfect. 

3. His Almighty power executes the plan. 

4. Infinite Holiness required it. 

5. So necessary was it that nothing less than 
God incarnate making atonement could have met the 
urgent necessities of the deep need of the soul. 

These five propositions meet in the plan of redemp- 
tion. 

God made man perfect in his possibilities; but man 
was not all he should have been in his achievements. 
By an upward and onward progress he could have 
reached his eternal fortunes. 

The plan of human redemption was so important 
and so extensive that nothing less than the adorable 
Holy Trinity could effect it. 

Christ made an atonement for sin that He might save 
man from sin. 

It was necessary that Christ shed His blood, else He 
would not have done it; for the reason He could do 
nothing useless. Our Lord Jesus never did anything 
without a reason. No other consideration could have 
been sufficient why He should have suffered and died 


20 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


other than to save man from sin. The holiness of God 
required that man be holy, that he be saved from sin, and 
nothing else than the blood of Jesus Christ could make 
this possible. The incarnation, life, passion, and death 
of Jesus Christ was absolutely necessary, considering the 
fallen state and wretched condition of the human family. 
Notwithstanding all this no soul profits by the suf- 
ferings and death of Christ who does not personally, by 
faith, receive, in this present life, God into his heart. 

Redemption necessarily implies the fall of man — 
“sold under sin.” God in His redeeming purpose pro- 
vided through the incarnation and the shed blood of 
Christ a full and complete atonement to purchase back 
man from his fallen condition and restore him to a joint 
inheritance with His Son. 

The character of the Redeemer is highly important. 
He was not mere man, for man could not redeem ; neither 
was He God only, for it is equally true that He could 
not redeem. But the God-man — God clothed in our flesh, 
possessing two natures, did thereby become a suitable 
Redeemer. Man is of infinite value ; and if God 
purchase back man He must give an infinite price. 
The price of man’s redemption was paid on the cross, 
and the bodily resurrection of Christ from the grave 
was proof that the price was accepted and the redemp- 
tion completed. The redeemed will say with Job, “In 
my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself. ,, 
In resurrection the bodies of those who “die in the Lord** 
shall, says St. Paul, be “raised in incorruption.” 

Extol the Lamb of God, 

The all-atoning Lamb; 

Redemption in His blood 
Throughout the world proclaim: 

The year of jubilee is come; 

Return, ye ransomed sinners, home. 


CHAPTER II 


THE GOSPEL PLAN OF SALVATION 

The plan of human redemption is the most solemn 
transaction which ever took place between God and 
man, and for this reason is introduced in the most solemn 
manner, namely, through the personal manifestation and 
shed blood of the incarnate God. Here the doctrine of a 
Mediator must be accounted for, as the only medium of 
approach to God. Thus man may become wise, holy, and 
useful. 

Experimental holiness is found only in the embrace 
of God. The incarnation of the Son of God offers a pow- 
erful attestation of the doctrine of holiness. It is holiness 
experienced and exemplified. To deny the doctrine of 
holiness we must deny the truth or reject the end of His 
mission. The distinct office and mission of Jesus Christ 
is the fountain of moral healing. Spiritual soundness 
and moral cleansing are exclusively from Him who is the 
Great Physician of souls, the sole fountain of internal 
purity. Hear the infallible Word of God asserting this 
fact : His name shall be called Jesus, “for he shall have his 
people from their sins.” “For this purpose the Son of 
God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of 
the devil.” “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth 
us from all sin.” 

The doctrines of holiness, divine incarnation, the dis- 
cipline of Christianity have been opposed by strange 
opinions, subtle and dexterous sophistry, till true and 


21 


22 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


undefiled religion itself seems to have become evanescent. 
In no age of the world has Christianity been more cor- 
rupted than this. The most of modern theology is simply 
splendid trifling. The Christian church is given over to 
rites and ceremonies and worldly mindedness. The 
church is being broken up into religious cults and philo- 
sophical sects. There is the Eclectic sect. It is like a 
city sewer. It catches anything and everything. It is 
a mixture of the Gospel and Buddhistic philosophy. 
Nothing clear, nothing certain. All is hypothetical, nothing 
proved. Then comes the select out-sect, commonly 
kown as Come-outism ; it contributes its moral share 
of truth and error. There are also the individuals who 
stand as the universal “it,” whose opinions are the final 
court of appeal, and are intolerable to all men of common 
sense. The precepts of God are ignored. The breaking 
of the commands is more efficacious than the keeping of 
them. Water baptism is more essential to salvation than 
the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the creed of 
some of our modern “advanced thinkers” assert that “the 
Bible is an outgrown ethic.” 

We are living in a state of spiritual non-age, when 
the blood of Christ to justify the ungodly and sanctify 
the unholy is ignored. If we would be wise and holy and 
useful we must practice the word of God until it becomes 
a part of our very soul. God’s agreement is, “If ye will 
obey my voice indeed and keep my commandments, then 
shall ye be a peculiar treasure unto me.” But what is 
this covenant? I answer, the Ten Commandments. 
Proof, Deut. 4:13: And he declared unto you his cove- 
nant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten 
commandments.” The commands are like Himself : His 
almightiness accompanies them ; His divine presence 
dwells in them; they can neither shift, change, nor fail. 
The commands of God will outlive the storms of the ages. 


THE GOSPEL PLAN OF SALVATION 


23 


Men may drift on the Gulf Stream of speculation, 
but they are necessitated finally to return to the Good 
Old Book, “The Book of Books,” to get their reckon- 
ings. When we have found God in His holy commands 
then shall we find the reason why we should be holy. 
No man has ever lost his soul by obeying God’s com- 
mands; but men have lost their souls by disobeying 
them. If we would be saved we must omit nothing; we 
must recollect to do all that God has commanded. The 
Word of God should be to us as the pilot of the ship, 
guiding the soul through the tempestuous storms and the 
thick darkness of this deep night of life, crying out to us 
moment by moment in the voice of God, “This is the 
way, walk ye in it.” Our blessed, adorable Lord Jesus 
said, “I am the Light,” “I am the Way,” “I am the 
Truth,” “Follow thou me.” 

A good old moralist once said, “The Bible is not to 
tell us how the heavens go, but how to go to heaven.” 
We must first learn to be true to the commands of God 
if we would be true to ourselves. Disloyalty to God 
means to be untrue to ourselves. To refuse to be holy is 
to wrong God of His own by refusing to heed His com- 
mands. The Holy Scriptures show us that character 
determines destiny. 

Hear Him : “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still : 
and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still : and he that 
is righteous, let him be righteous still : and he that is holy, 
let him be holy still” (Rev. 22:11). “Blessed are the pure 
in heart, for they shall see God.” On the other hand, 
not a ray of hope shines upon the unholy. His portion 
is hell. God puts before us the unflinching truth, “Be 
ye holy, for I am holy.” Our heart and life must be 
kept up to this most solemn requirement. Every privi- 
lege brings duty, necessity, responsibility. The awful 
crisis is on us, and crisis means, “judgment.” To neglect 


24 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


the duty to be holy is the closing up of the final chance 
of heaven. ‘‘Holiness, without which no man shall see the 
Lord” (Heb. 12:14). If sin is not cleansed out of the 
heart and we be filled with the fulness of God’s love we 
shall not ascend into His heavenly home. Read the fif- 
teenth Psalm and Ephesians, third chapter. 

Unfaithfulness to the command, “Be ye holy,” must 
be met by condemnation. The test is holy character, 
found in the heart and life. To neglect this command- 
ment is to be cast out from the presence of God. Since 
God has required men to be holy, not to obey the com- 
mand means ingratitude to God and contempt of duty. 
Those who refuse the blood of Jesus to cleanse from 
all sin now will, by the continuance of that fixed law, 
refuse to be cleansed everlastingly. 

Fear not to look at the all-comprehending wisdom 
of our Savior’s judgment, “Blessed are the pure in 
heart : for they shall see God.” That is, the pure in heart 
only shall see God. Here is the startling fact, namely, 
that heaven is only assured to “the pure in heart,” all 
others are excluded. Here we have an answer, not of 
supposition, but of fact, the ultimate standard by which 
we are to decide this vital question of holiness of heart 
and life. We cannot evade the fact discovered to us 
by Jesus that we should be holy: “Be ye therefore 
perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is per- 
fect,” “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see 
God.” Therefore no laxity or sophistry on man’s part 
can ever explain away His declarations. 

Conscious heart purity, coupled with a circumspect 
godly life, is the one indispensable fitness for this life 
and heaven. There is an absolute certainty of the pure 
in heart beholding the beatific sight. Christ set a high 
mark in character, namely, holiness of heart; and it is 


THE GOSPEL PLAN OF SALVATION 


25 


man’s duty to reach that high level, that he may finally 
dwell with the model of purity, Jesus himself. 

We see in the teachings of Christ the broad, un- 
qualified, unvarying measure and standard of character 
to which every man must attain in order for a fitness for 
heaven, namely, the moral nature of his God, “In his 
image.” Nothing will satisfy God for a lack of heart 
purity. The whole man must be enlisted in holiness of 
heart and life. The divine claim for such holiness is 
founded in the character of God Himself. “Thou shalt 
be holy, for I, the Lord thy God, am holy.” 

Jesus gave us the true pattern. By His life He 
showed all men what holiness was and what it meant 
in concrete form, in living reality. He by His holy life 
practically demonstrated that all men might be holy. 
His death and shed blood insured the divine possibility 
of being sanctified wholly. “The blood of Christ 
cleanseth us from all sin.” To die without holiness of 
heart is to dwell apart from God throughout the cease- 
less age of eternity. Hell is the ultimate of corrupt 
souls. Hell is the logical goal for sin. Heaven is the 
final, and eternal, portion of sanctified souls. Corrup- 
tion in the soul cannot but lead sooner or later to the 
fire of hell. We can foretell what will be man’s destiny 
by the side which a man’s heart takes in this life. Jesus 
is the mighty to save, and whatever the need of the 
soul He can supply and make us whole. 

“For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, 
that he might destroy the works of the devil.” Christ’s 
infallible wisdom appeals for universal obedience, His 
blood is all-sufficient to cleanse us from all sin. He has 
proved Himself equal to every increasing demand made 
upon His power. Heart purity which is freely offered to 
all is impossible apart from association with Christ. 

The fulness of the Holy Spirit is a guarantee of the 


26 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


fulness of spiritual power. The fulness of the personal 
indwelling Holy Spirit is our strength. He Himself 
will be our life, strength, helper, comforter, and cleanser 
or sanctifier. This is the secret of entire sanctification. 
In every sorrow He will be our comforter. He will lead 
us into all truth. Without the indwelling Holy Spirit 
there can be no divine or spiritual life. Every grace and 
every gift is from Him. Reader, have you the evidence 
in your heart now that you are holy in heart and life, 
and have you the fulness of the Spirit? If so, continue to 
walk in the light of God. If you do not enjoy this rich 
heritage, seek it earnestly and now, and the God of all 
grace will give it you. Amen. 


CHAPTER III 


god's method of saving sinners 

Man is in a twofold state of sin; consequently God 
has a double cure for his ills. The chief object of this 
chapter is to consider I. What is implied in being 
saved. 2. The plan proposed by the Almighty through 
which to save sinners. The ash-bank philosopher long 
since asked the all-important question, “How then can 
man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that 
is born of a woman?” (Job 25 :4). To effect this men have 
invented many schemes which may be summed up as fol- 
lows: 1. Self-redemption theory. That is, that a man 
out of his inherent energies in his upward progress may 
reach his eternal fortunes. This includes the law of 
works. To merit salvation by obedience is utterly in- 
consistent with man as a sinner, and his obligation as a 
creature to his Creator. As man was in the beginning 
pure and holy he was capable of observing and perfectly 
keeping the moral law. He was made under the 
moral law and he was made equal to it in all its 
requisitions and demands. Obedience to the moral law 
was his duty, and there was nothing difficult, nothing 
grievous; all was delight in this state of blessedness. 
In this pure and perfect state there was not the slightest 
degree of moral imperfection, neither was there the 
smallest irregularity of passion or appetite; there was 
nothing in his conduct to mar or ruin his acts. But man 
cannot merit salvation by his obedience for the reason 

27 


28 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


he is the creature of God, and owes all his powers' to his 
Creator. He owes Him all the service he possibly can 
perform ; and when he has done to the full possibility 
of his being he has simply done his duty. Whatever was 
man’s duty at any time must be his duty during the whole 
course of his being. Consequently when we have done all 
that lies in our power we have only done our duty, 
hence we have nothing to claim from God. Dr. Adam 
Clarke has wisely stated : 

Through eternity no created being, however pure, holy, 
sublime and obedient, can have any demands on its Creator. 
For from Him its being was originally derived, and by Him that 
jbeing is sustained; to Him therefore by right, it belongs; and 
(whatever He has made it capable of, He has a right to demand. 
■As well might the cause be supposed to be a debtor to the 
effect produced by it, as the Creator in any circumstance be a 
debtor to the creature. To merit salvation is to give an 
equivalent for eternal glory; for if a man can be saved by his 
works, his claim is on divine justice, and if justice make a com- 
munication of eternal glory for obedience, then this obedience 
must be, in merit, equal to that glory. Justice demands what 
is due; it can require no more; it will take no less. Man’s 
obedience, therefore, performed in time, which however long, 
is only a moment when compared to eternity, must .be considered 
on this doctrine, equal in worth to the endless and utmost 
beatification which God can confer on an intelligent being, 
which is absurd. Therefore no being, by obedience in time, 
can merit an eternal glory. Again, to merit anything from God, 
we must act as beings independent of Him, and give Him that 
ion which He has no legal claim; for as we cannot purchase 
.one part of a man’s property by giving him another part of his 
property; so we cannot purchase from God anything that is His 
own, by that to which he has an equal claim. To merit glory, 
therefore, a man must not only act independently of God, but 
also with powers and energies of which God is neither author nor 
supporter; for the powers which He has created, and which He 
upholds are already His own; and to their utmost use and serv- 
ice He has an indefeasible right. Now man is a derived and 
dependent creature, he has nothing but what he has received; 
cannot even live without the supporting energy of God and 
can return Him nothing that is not His own and therefore, 


god's method of saving sinners 


29 


can merit nothing. On this ground also, the doctrine of glorifi- 
cation by merit of works is demonstratively both impossible and 
absurd. Once more, to perform acts infinitely meritorious man 
must have powers commensurate to such acts; to merit infinitely 
requires infinite merit in the act; and infinite merit in the act 
requires unlimited powers in the agent; for no being of limited 
and finite powers can perform acts of infinite worth; but man 
in his best estate is a being of limited powers, wholly dependent, 
even for these, on the energy of another; consequently cannot 
perform acts of infinite worth, and therefore can in no way what- 
ever merit, by his obedience or his works, that infinite and 
eternal weight of glory of which the Scriptures speak. On 
this ground, therefore, of the doctrine of final glorification, by 
the merit of works, is self-contradictory, impossible and absurd. 

If man in a state of purity, having never sinned 
against his Creator, could not perform acts of infinite 
worth, how then is it possible for fallen humanity, 
destitute of righteousness and pure holiness, corrupt by 
nature, guilty through innumerable transgressions, shorn 
of his natural powers, merit salvation by works? I an- 
swer, it is a moral impossibility. 

2. The theory of a future probation supposed by 
some is absurd, contradictory, and impossible. Penal 
suffering in pergatory or held or out of hell cannot purge 
the soul from sin. The system is absurd because not true 
to facts. Suffering does not cleanse the soul from any 
stains of sins in this life ; then how is it possible for suf- 
fering humanity in the future state to make an atonement 
for sins committed in this life? It is contrary to Scripture, 
There is not one passage in the Bible to support such a 
theory. It is contrary to common sense and sound phi- 
losophy. 

3. Universalism has proposed a scheme to save all 
men whether they be saints or sinners, believers or un- 
believers, rebels or obedient, licentious or virtuous, infi- 
dels or what not, all will finally be saved through the 
mere impulse of God’s own benevolence or goodness. 


30 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


The supposition is, as God is a being of infinite benevo- 
lence or love He will not suffer any creature -to be lost 
in hell forever. To see the fallacy of this scheme we 
must consider: What God can do, consistently with 
all the attributes of His nature, and what He does not 
do in the exertion of any one of His attributes exclu- 
sively. We know that God is infinite in His justice and 
that justice demands its full right; and that mankind 
has wilfully and maliciously insulted infinite justice, 
yet He has not damned all men. We also know that God 
is omnipotent, and as omnipotence is unlimited and uncon- 
founded, consequently it can do everything that is possible 
to be done ; but notwithstanding, it does not do all that is 
possible to be done, for it is possible, in the illimitable 
vortex of space, to create unnumbered worlds ; but this is 
not done. Then, too, it is possible for omnipotence to 
change the whole order of the universe and give it a new 
mode of existence, but neither is this done. Moreover, 
the attribute of infinite goodness is extended to all men; 
but all men are not pardoned nor purified, neither does it 
confer everlasting bliss. The fact is that no attribute 
of God is exercised exclusive of another. The mere ex- 
istence of an attribute does not necessarily imply the 
exertion of that attribute. Dr. Adam Clarke says: 

All the divine perfections are in perfect unity and harmony 
among themselves; God never acts from one of His attributes 
exclusively; but in the infinite unity of all His attributes. He 
never acts from benevolence to the exclusion of justice; nor 
from justice to the exclusion of mercy. Though the effect of His 
operations may appear to us to be in one case, the offspring of 
power alone; in another of justice alone; in a third, of mercy 
alone; yet in respect to the divine nature itself, all these effects 
are the joint product of all His perfections; neither of which is 
exerted more or less than another. Nor can it be otherwise; 
nor must we by our preconceived opinions, favor our particular 
creed, or set the attributes of God at variance among them- 
selves; or “Wound one excellence with another.” God there- 


god's method of saving sinners 31 

fore can do nothing by the mere exercise of His benevolence, 
that is not perfectly consistent with His justice and righteous- 
ness. 

If the infinite mercy considered alone would be a 
ground of saving sinners, on that consideration the infinite 
justice of God would show mercy to no man. The in- 
ference in the one case is as legitimate or strong as the 
other for the reason the infinite justice of God that re- 
quires Him to punish sinners is equal to His mercy, which 
requires Him to save them. These facts are sufficient to 
show that the exercise of the mere mercy or love of God 
is no ground to hope that He will finally save all men. 
If the love of God is no ground to hope that He will 
finally save all men, the infinite justice from this con- 
sideration alone would damn all men. The conclusion 
in one case is as warrantable and legitimate as the other. 

Universalism is obliged to retire from the consider- 
ation of man being saved in or out of hell on the mere 
consideration of infinite llove. That the state of proba- 
tion extends only to the ultimate end of life is a scrip- 
tural fact. We have no evidence, either from Scripture 
or reason, that salvation extends to sinners in a future 
state. Read Matt. 25. The divine records proclaim the 
most positive declaration against an opportunity of being 
saved in eternity. The one supreme theme of the Bible 
is, namely, that redemption from sin is to be obtained only 
in this life. On passing the limits of time the Bible 
plainly states we enter upon the unchangeable state, in 
that awful and indescribable infinitude of incomprehen- 
sible duration. We read of but two states or places — 
heaven and hell or eternal glory and everlasting misery. 
In these two places we read of but two characters of 
human beings, saints and sinners, the eternally lost and 
eternally saved; between whom there is that unmeas- 
urable gulf over which neither can pass. In heaven we 


32 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


read of no sin, no curse ; there “all tears are forever 
wiped away from off all faces ; and the righteous shine 
like the sun in the kingdom of their Father/’ In hell 
we read of nothing but “weeping, wailing and gnashing 
of teeth,” “of the worm that dieth not” and of “the fire 
which is not quenched.” There the damned reap all the 
consequences of what they have sown. “Be not deceived ; 
God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that 
shall he also reap” (Gal 6:7); also read Luke 16: 19-31. 

4. The doctrine of the final extinction of hell-fire, 
and the final restoration of all men has been adduced as 
affording a ground on which the hope of final salvation 
might be effected. This doctrine is without foundation. 
There is nothing in Scripture to support it, and it is con- 
trary <to every principle of sound philosophy, because it 
is incapable of any rational proof. It is as ridiculous as 
it is absurd to suppose that those who have lived in the 
indulgence of the world, the flesh, and the devil can in hell 
acquire habits of virtue. Redemption from sin and 
misery in a future state is not hinted at, much less taught, 
in the Bible. Universalism cannot find a single passage 
of Scripture to sustain it in the belief that Christ will save 
a soul from sin after death. But the Bible teaches plainly 
and positively that there shall be a resurrection, both of 
the just and the unjust; that those who have done good 
shall come forth unto the resurrection of life ; and those 
who have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. 
Read Matt. 25:30-46; Luke 16:19-31. Two facts are 
here stated as clear as human language can express : (1) 
That the wicked in the resurrection shall go away into 
everlasting punishment. (2) That the righteous in the 
resurrection shall enter into life eternal. The primary 
meaning of the word aionios, expressing the states of the 
righteous and the wicked, as translated means endless 
duration. The learned lexicographer, Bretschneider, 


god's method of saving sinners 


33 


defines it to mean “That which is always forever.” 
Schrevelius defines it “eternal.” Liddell, Scott, Greenfield, 
and others give it the same meaning. Therefore the 
facts shut us up to this conclusion : If the everlasting pun- 
ishment of the wicked is to have an end, so also the 
eternal blessedness of the righteous will have an end, 
thus the extinction of the human family. But the L.ct is, 
the punishment of the wicked is endless. So also the 
eternal blessedness of the righteous shall be forever. 

Some one may ask, What then is the true doctrine? 
Man is a fallen creature and needs a Savior. All men by 
nature are internally corrupt. The whole system of 
passions, appetites, faculties, and mental powers are in 
a state of uncleanness, disorder, and confusion. Thus 
the image of God is erased from the soul, and the Sa- 
tanic image has taken its place ; and the heart is deceit- 
ful and desperately wicked. Man by nature is corrupt 
internally and externally — he is totally fallen from 
God, and original righteousness. St. Paul points out the 
“carnal micd/ that is, “enmity against God,” as the seat 
of corruption. This evil principle is seen by its evil 
practices, namely, disputes, contention, strife, variance, 
emulations, hatred, malice, adultery, fornication, lasciv- 
iousness, uncleanness, with drunkenness, revelings, and 
such like. All these proceed directly from the cor- 
ruption of the human heart, and are at once the evidence, 
the proof, of man’s corrupt nature. Every unregenerate 
man shows himself to be a child of corruption, a fallen 
spirit intent on the gratification of the flesh. And yet 
with all this mass of corruption and proneness to sin, 
we are told that “we are the children of God whether we 
know it or not, and that out of our innate energy we 
may in our upward progress reach the infinite and the 
eternal.” And also that “Christ came not to create re- 
ligion, but to develop the religion that was already in 


34 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


the human soul.” This figment of philosophy is not 
true to the facts. In Rom. i *.21-30 St. Paul cites the 
miserable failure of such false philosophy. The devotee 
fosters the seeds of vice until he becomes more animal, 
more sensual, more devilish, proceeding from bad to 
worse until the real man disappears and the beast 
and the devil, in a combination, occupy his whole 
being. It is a heathen philosophy that has neither Christ 
nor God in it. It has not Christ in it because it denies 
and ridicules divine atonement to wash the soul from 
the guilt of sin and the power of sin and the love of sin. 
God it has not, for it denies the necessity of vicarious 
atonement made of God through Jesus Christ. Its lead- 
ing principle is that man is not evil, consequently denies 
the scriptural account of the fall of man. That man is a 
fallen being, totally depraved, and utterly incapable of 
recovering himself from his ruinous state, is the lan- 
guage of Scripture, reason, and common sense, and true 
to the facts of human life. 

I come, therefore, to the plan proposed by the 
Almighty as the only means of salvation. Man is in 
a twofold state of sin. That sin exists after two forms 
or modes, (a) Man is guilty because of his transgres- 
sions, therefore he needs pardon, (b) Man is corrupt, 
hence needs cleansing. To be thus saved from sin, 
therefore, implies the being delivered from all the guilt 
of sin or transgressions ; from all the power or influence 
of sin, so that it no longer has dominion over us, and 
from all the corruption of sin ; so that the soul is cleansed 
from all impurity. Thus we are made a fit habitation of 
God through the Holy Spirit. Let no one deceive his 
own soul by imagining he can partake of all the benefits 
of Christ’s death and yet have nothing to do with holi- 
ness. It is a command of the living God founded on the 
same authority as “Thou shalt not murder.” None, 


god's method of saving sinners 


35 


therefore, can refuse to be holy and be guiltless. Is it 
not a delusion to assume that we can be Christians and 
yet refuse to be what God commands us to be? What 
says the sovereign will of God? “Ye shall be holy, for I 
am holy.” “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” Read Lev. n .*44; 
I Pet. 1 : 16. He who rejects the commands to be holy 
puts it absolutely out of the power of God to make him 
holy, and not to be such means to be lost. 

Reader, bless God for the atonement and rest not 
without an application of it to your own soul, for the 
blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. Again it is 
a command to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the 
remission of sins, and cleansing from all inbred pollu- 
tion. Jesus has made a full atonement and sacrifice for 
sin, that pardon, cleansing, and eternal glory might be 
assured to all who obey and believe in Him. We are 
pardoned from all transgressions, no longer exposed to 
punishment, and are therefore saved from perdition. We 
are cleansed, hence fitted for heaven. Sanctification, 
perfect love, heart purity, or holiness is the purifica- 
tion of the soul from defilement. The blood of Jesus 
Christ cleanseth us from all sin by which we are most 
blessedly prepared for the tremendous task of life, and 
for eternal glory, (a) Without justification or pardon 
we must perish eternally, (b) Without sanctification or 
holiness we cannot see God. “Blessed are the pure in 
heart : for they shall see God.” “Follow peace with all 
men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the 
Lord.” These most glorious works are attributed to the 
Triune God. To the Father is the fountain of deity, and 
the Scripture speaks of Him as loving, caring for, and 
sending His only begotten Son into the world as the 
Redeemer. The work of redemption is usually attrib- 
uted 'to the three persons of the Godhead, yet in a most 
pre-eminent sense we are to be saved through the shed 


36 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


blood of Jesus. Read Acts 20:28, Rev. 5:9, Eph. 1:7, 
Col. 1:14, Heb. 9:12-14. The Holy Ghost is said to be 
the dispenser of the covenant of grace or plan of human 
redemption. He is said to regenerate, sanctify, and com- 
fort, and also to lead into all truth. Consider the work, 
the infusion of the Holy Spirit, II Thess. 2:13, Rom. 
15 :i6, and also the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Acts 2 n-4. 

We here give the student the benefits of Dr. Adam 
Clarke’s views on this important subject. 

Now we must not suppose that these two blessings are so 
necessarily connected, that one must follow the other. Justifica- 
tion, or pardon of sin, implies no more in itself than the re- 
moval of that guilt and condemnation which exposed the sinner 
to eternal perdition. This, in itself, gives no right to eternal 
glory. Sanctification, or complete holiness, is a meetness for 
glory, but neither does it give any right to heaven. Pardon of 
sin, as an act of God’s mercy, does not imply the purification of 
the soul; the first removes the guilt, the second takes away the 
disposition that led to those acts of transgression by which this 
guilt was contracted. Who supposed that the king, when, 
through his royal prerogative and clemency, he pardons a man 
who has been capitally convicted of forgery takes as fully 
away the covetous principle which led him to commit the act 
as by his pardon he takes away his liability to the punishment 
of the gallows? I produce this instance merely to show that 
pardon and holiness are not so necessarily connected, as that one 
must imply the other. Yet there is every reason to believe, and 
genuine experience in divine things confirms it, that in the act 
of justification when the Spirit of God, the spirit of holiness, 
is given to bear witness with our spirits that we are the children 
of God, all the outlines of the divine image are drawn upon the 
soul, and it is the work of the Holy Spirit, in our sanctification, 
to touch off and fill up all those outlines, till every feature of 
the divine likeness is filled up and perfected. Therefore, no 
believer should ever rest until he find the whole body of sin 
and death destroyed; and till the law of the spirit of life in 
Christ Jesus have made him free from the law of sin and death. 
I have said that neither justification, nor sanctification, gives 
any merit to glory. Mere innocence is not entitled- to reward, 
and mere meetness for a thing or place is no proof of right to 


god's method of saving sinners 


37 


possession. The fact is that the right to that glory comes 
merely by Jesus Christ and is the effect of His infinite merit, and 
here the excellence and perfection of that merit appear. The 
merit must be infinite that can rescue the soul from deserved 
endless punishment; merit must be infinite that can give a man 
a title to eternal glory. We are obliged to commence with 
the deity of Christ; as most obviously nothing less could have 
been adequate to the work which was given Him to do, and 
the work which He has done, and the blessings which He has 
acquired, demonstrate His infinite merit, and thus proves the 
point of His essential divinity. 

We have shown i. That man’s crimes have incurred 
guilt, which requires an atonement, hence pardon. 2. 
That man’s impurity requires cleansing. 3. That an end- 
less state of blessedness must be purchased. 4. That 
nothing less than God incarnate making atonement could 
secure to mankind all of this. Lastly, unless man be 
holy he can neither please nor see God. Christ came to 
restore us to the divine image and likeness by pardoning 
our sins and purifying us from the defilement of sin. 
Sin defaced the divine image, Jesus came to restore it. 
Sin must be destroyed. It must not have any triumph. 
Jesus must rule supreme in our affections. 



CHAPTER IV 


THE GREATEST THEME OF ALL 

Holiness! More important than this infinite intelli- 
gence has nothing to teach and more important men 
have nothing to learn. Individual experience in holiness 
in the old dispensation grew out of union with God 
through sacrifice. Holiness is the principal thing in the 
economy of salvation, hence the whole people were to 
be holy as the children of God. Cf. Ex. 19:5, 6; Lev. 11 : 
44, 45 ; Deut. 14: 1-21. The one supreme, all pervading, all 
controlling principle in the Mosaic economy was to 
reunite the devout worshiper to his God, the source and 
cause of holiness. It is an indisputable fact that God 
instituted these ordinances for the sole purpose that His 
people might be a holy people and thus resemble Him 
who is a holy God. God Himself has made His holiness 
the eternal reason why all His people should be holy, 
“Ye shall be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44). This is 
not a mere external holiness here required, but an in- 
ternal purity which the holiness of God demands. The 
divine requirement here stated is holiness within and 
righteousness without. To assert that the religion of the 
Old Testament saints was simply ceremonial purifica- 
tion is as impious as it is irrational and absurd. The 
external purification or sanctification was to teach the 
devout worshiper that internal purity which God re- 
quired. It is even a doctrine of divine revelation 
that the all-sufficient Savior taught in the New Testament. 
And if the Jew would receive, believe, and apply what 

39 


40 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


this most solemn ordinance directed him to, namely, redemp- 
tion in Christ, he was justified and sanctified. On this 
important point Dr. Adam Clarke says, “We are justified 
by faith, we are to be sanctified through the same. This 
was the way in which He saved of old, whether Jew or 
Gentile, He put no difference, purifying their hearts by 
faith and giving them the Holy Ghost” (Discourse on 
Eph. 3: 14-21). The life of God in the soul produced in 
the Jew or Gentile experimental holiness. We must dis- 
tinguish between mere formal Jews and genuine holy Jews, 
such as Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Daniel, and hosts of 
others. 

We learn from the Word of God that the doctrine of 
holiness is founded on the perfections of God ; and agrees 
with all those perfections. It is the basic principle of the 
plan of salvation. It is a doctrine not only found in the 
New Testament, but one already delivered in the Old 
Testament. It being a doctrine derived from God, it 
must be for all men, Jew and Gentile, in the old dispen- 
sation and in the new. Holiness everywhere in the 
Bible is made a most essential article of the Christian 
religion. 

The distinction of clean and unclean food. Lev. 11 ; 
Deut. 14. This Scripture treats of clean and unclean 
meats. By these laws of clean and unclean animals God 
kept His people separate from the idolatrous nations. 
The fundamental principle involved is the importance of 
cultivating assiduously distinctions between the morally 
clean and the unclean. We must learn the art of draw- 
ing distinctions between political, social, religious ques- 
tions and doctrines. In religion especially we must 
form distinct and accurate conceptions of things that are 
true and things that are false. Do not swallow things 
indiscriminately or “jumble things together.” Demand 
pure religious food, unmixed with error. Demand pure 


THE GREATEST THEME OF ALL 


41 


mental food. Demand pure social food. Demand pure 
political food. This method, if strictly observed, will 
prove an effective medium to keep the good and the bad, 
the pure and the impure separate. 

Provision for purification, Lev. 12; Deut. 23:1-14. 
Purification of priests and people was the proper prepa- 
ration for service. This law of purification demanded a 
burnt offering and a sin offering. This points out the 
necessity for an atonement to cleanse the soul from orig- 
inal or moral defilement. God has provided a remedy 
to pardon the guilty sinner, and to cleanse the souls of 
all His truly justified from all inward moral pollution. 
God’s plan of redemption is to make men pure within, 
that they may be righteous without. This constitutes 
the character of a true Christian. The complete cleans- 
ing of the soul from all the contagion and contamination 
of sin in this life is as great a fact as being pardoned 
from all the guilt of sin. 

There are those who have the habit of shallow think- 
ing and rash talking, which makes them utterly incom- 
petent judges of the subject they pretend to discuss. They 
also proceed to argue without any acknowledged stand- 
ard of right or wrong. I am now presenting to you the 
glorious fact of holiness, perhaps out of which your 
theology or preacher has cheated you. The Bible bids 
us stand in the ways and challenge whatever claims au- 
thority over our hearts and lives. We are not to accept a 
teacher because he poses as an apostle of Christ. We are 
not to accept his doctrines because he claims for them 
divine origin. We are to demand as prime conditions 
Bible proof whereby the doctrine which appeals to us is 
unequivocally demonstrated to be the word of God. 

As a servant of God I stand upon the Bible as the 
divinely inspired and hence divinely authoritative Word 
of God. We affirm that the Bible sets forth with clear- 


42 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

ness the doctrine of holiness, i. The Word of God teaches 
that holiness is vital to our welfare. 2. The Word of God 
also positively asserts that unless we accept and experi- 
ence holiness we shall suffer eternal loss. 3. Holiness is 
the standard set by the all-wise God as the moral condi- 
tion for man. We should accept the Bible as the supreme 
authority on holiness, hence we should not rest content 
till it has taken full possession of the very root of our 
being, penetrated and ramified and saturated us through 
and through, and made us so in love with holiness that 
we will not tolerate or fellowship sin of any kind. 

More than this, unless we are ready to have our wills 
merged into the will of God, and be carried up to the 
ideal of perfection as high as God has set, we are not 
ready to become Christians. God insists on us being 
holy. Here is the test : “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” 

What now are the facts about holiness? 1. Holiness 
is the doctrine of God. Holiness is the doctrine of truth, 
because it came from the God of truth. This glorious 
doctrine is as sublime as heaven and true as God. He 
that originated it stands proved as the God of holiness. 
It demonstrates that holiness and God stand or fall to- 
gether; that they are as inseparable as a stream and 
its fountain; as essentially one in character as the light 
and the sun. It came not from man, nor from uncertain 
traditions, but from the God of truth. There is not a 
creed in Christendom that claims that the doctrine of holi- 
ness originated with them. But all those churches who 
have incorporated it in their creed claim that it is a Bible 
doctrine. There are those who assert that holiness is a 
new doctrine. It may be new to them, but it as old as the 
Bible. It is dishonest to make people believe that the 
doctrine of holiness is “new” or “that it originated from 
some creed,” when such a theory is completely upset by 
the Word of God. God has set up Himself as the stand- 


THE GREATEST THEME OF ALL 


43 


ard for God-like children. “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” 
About six thousand years of history and the common 
consent of holy men and women in favor of holiness are 
a little too much for any man to upset. The Bible in- 
forms us that holiness is not only a doctrine from the 
God of truth, but it is the most ancient one given to man. 
Just previous to God delivering to Moses the Ten Com- 
mandments, God gave Moses direction concerning the 
sanctification of the people. It is a doctrine that is ful- 
filled and is fulfilling; and is thus known and felt to be 
the truth by all those that obey and believe. 

2. It is a doctrine that is true in itself. It stands 
luminous on the track of history, the exact embodiment 
of the very truth God uttered, “Be ye holy.” The keenest 
and most relentless criticism has had this doctrine of God 
in the focus of its blazing examination for centuries, has 
searched it back and forth and through every phase of it, 
yet it is as unchanged and unmoved as its author, God. 
Truth is external. Holiness is truth in itself. Holiness 
is the only standard of morality. 

It was God’s choice that the moral condition of man 
should be holy, hence He made him in His image after 
His likeness. Gen. i ’.26, 27. Enoch enjoyed holiness, for 
it is said he walked with God. God has informed us 
that “Noah was a just man and perfect in his genera- 
tion.” This perfection that Noah enjoyed was the res- 
toration to that state of holiness from which his father, 
Adam, fell. He was restored to the image and likeness 
of God. A higher meaning than this it can not have; 
a lower meaning it must not have. The Lord said unto 
Abraham, “Walk before me and be thou perfect.” It 
was pleasing to God’s own infinite wisdom and goodness 
that Abraham should be perfect. To say that Abraham 
could not be perfect would be shocking blasphemy 
against the infinite wisdom and dignity of God. We 


44 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


should not deny, neither should we attempt to fritter 
away the Word of God. 

Perfection in reference to man signifies that all sin, 
whether in power, guilt or defilement, is cleansed from 
the heart; hence he is blameless, clear, irreproachable, 
cleansed from all unrighteousness. Why that men will 
ridicule such a salvation from sin is the surprise of my 
life. Dr. Adam Clarke says, “Had I no other proof that 
man is fallen from God, his opposition to Christian holi- 
ness would be to me sufficient/’ The same venerable 
writer says, “The whole design of God was to restore 
man to His image ; and raise him from the ruins of his 
fall; in a word, to make him perfect; to blot out all his 
sins, purify his soul and fill him with holiness; so that 
no unholy temper, evil desire, or impure affection or pas- 
sion shall either lodge, or have any being within him ; 
this and this only is true religion or Christian perfection ; 
and a less salvation than this would be dishonorable to 
the sacrifice of Christ, and the operation of the Holy 
Ghost; and would be as unworthy of the appellation of 
‘Christianity’ as it would be of that of ‘holiness or per- 
fection.’ ” 

The whole economy of grace in :he salvation of man 
has for its supreme object the “perfection” or sanctifica- 
tion of man. Read Col. 1 127, 28. The Bible is the divine 
testimony, the prophets, Christ, and the apostles are its 
advocates; and also the faithful ministry of Christ have 
in all ages taken up this blessed theme. God has made 
a revelation of the doctrine of holiness and would have 
all men come to the knowledge of this glorious truth. 
He has provided a plan of salvation through Jesus 
Christ whereby we may be made holy. So surely as 
God made man holy in the beginning so surely therefore 
has Jesus Christ died that we might be made holy. Cf. 
I John 3 : 8, “For this purpose the Son of God was mani- 


THE GREATEST THEME OF ALL 


45 


fested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” 
Sin is the work of the devil, therefore Jesus died that 
He might destroy sin in us. As a further proof 
of this fact, I John i says: “The blood of Jesus Christ 
his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” The prophets gave 
their testimony of this divine doctrine and in the course 
of the divine economy it has ever since been gradually 
promulgated, and at Pentecost ran with a more rapid 
course than ever. The sacred Word is full of the doc- 
trine of holiness ; but it has been either ignored by the 
majority of mankind or superficially considered. 

The nature and true idea of holiness is posi- 
tively and abundantly asserted in the Scriptures. The 
Word of God is full of this most glorious theme. 
Bishop Burton R. Jones has tersely stated that 
Salvation from sin is the gospel standard. It is the design of 
God that His people should be without sin. “These things 
write I unto you,” says John, “that ye sin not.” Nothing less 
would be worthy the great work of the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Ghost. The plan of redemption as conceived in the mind 
of the Infinite Father was designed for nothing less. The 
name given to the child born of the Virgin Mary indicated His 
mission in the world: “Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he 
phall save his people from their sins.” Anything less falls 
short of the work of the Holy Ghost, who comes to the heart 
as a “Refiner,” a “Purifier.” His work is to consume all dross, 
all impurities, and fill the heart with unalloyed gold (grace) — 
“gold tried in the fire.” Nothing less would meet the glorious 
expectations of the child of faith and enable him to measure up 
to his high calling. 

Such an experience is in keeping with the nature of God 
and may be attained by all who co-operate with Him. Christ 
becomes “wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption” 
to those who are “willing and obedient.” The Holy Spirit be- 
comes the Sanctifier and Comforter of those who open their 
hearts to Him. The Father, Son, and blessed Spirit abide per- 
petually with such as accept God’s will and work out His pur- 
poses. Having become a temple of the Holy Ghost, an up- 
right, holy, sinless life must follow. “He that saith he abideth 
in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked.” 


4 6 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


Christian perfection may be summed up in these 
comprehensive lines of Mr. Wesley: 

O let me gain perfection’s light; 

O let me into nothing fall 
(As less than nothing in Thy sight) 

And feel that Christ is all in all. 

We here quote from Rev. George Peck, D. D., great 
Methodist divine: 

We must “go on unto perfection.”' And that we may not 
act at random, or fight as those who beat the air, it will be 
necessary, if possible, to have definite views of that perfection 
at which we are to aim. I shall consequently, in the first 
place, attempt to ascertain the meaning of the term perfection, 
as it is to be understood in the text, and in similar passages. 
Several commentators suppose that by perfection, here, the 
apostle means the higher degrees of knowledge. Macknight 
says: “The apostle calls the knowledge of the doctrines and 
promises of the gospel, as typically set forth in the covenant 
with Abram, and darkly expressed in the figures and prophe- 
cies of the law, teleiotes, perfection, either in allusion to the 
Greeks, who termed the complete knowledge of their mysteries 
teleiotes, or teleiosis, perfection; or in allusion to what he had 
said chap. 5 : 14, that strong meat belongs to teleion , “full- 
grown men.” 

Perfection here unquestionably implies an advanced state 
of knowledge; but this is but a small part of what I conceive 
to be embraced. I much prefer the thorough views of Dr. 
Clarke to those of Macknight and others who agree with 
him. This distinguished critic paraphrases the passage thus: 
“ ‘Let us go on to perfection’ — Let us never rest till we are 
adult Christians; till we are saved from all sin, and are filled 
with the spirit and power of Christ.” 

In endeavoring to have right conceptions of the doctrine of 
Christian perfection, we may be somewhat aided by a correct 
understanding of the simple idea of perfection in the abstract. 
Perfection signifies completeness. Hooker says: “We count 
those things perfect which want nothing requisite for the end 
whereunto they were instituted.” So any thing that is complete 
in its kind is perfect. 

As to the different kinds of perfection, or the different ap- 


THE GREATEST THEME OF ALL 


47 


plications of the term, after an examination of a large number 
of critics upon the subject, the following, from Bailey’s “Dic- 
tionarium Britannicum,” is the most satisfactory: 

The adjective perfect he defines “[perfectus, L.] entire; to 
which nothing is wanting, or that has all the requisites; also, 
excellent, accomplished; also, arrant; [i. e., mere, downright;] 
also, well skilled in.” 

“Perfection, the state or condition of that which is perfect; 
also excellency, great accomplishment. 

“Absolute perfection is that wherein all imperfection is ex- 
cluded, such as is that of God, or secundum quid , and in its 
kind. 

“Essential perfection is the possession of all the essential 
attributes; or of all the parts necessary to the integrity of a 
substance. 

“Natural perfection is that whereby a thing has all its 
powers or faculties; and those, too, in their full vigor; all its 
parts, both principal and secondary; and those in their due 
proportion, constitution, etc. 

“Moral perfection is an eminent degree of virtue, or moral 
goodness, to which men arrive by frequently repeated acts of 
beneficence, piety, etc.” 

This definition of “moral perfection” is lax, but is a true 
exhibition of the sense in which the term was employed by many 
theologians of the last two centuries. The Wesleyan view of 
moral or Christian perfection is, that completeness of the 
Christian character which is required and promised in the gos- 
pel, “to which men arrive,” not so much “by frequently re- 
peated acts of beneficence, piety, etc ” as by a true and living 
faith (The Scripture Doctrine of Christian Perfection Stated and 
Defended, pp. 24ff.). 

What, then, is the perfection held up in the Scrip- 
tures as attainable and obligatory? 

To Christian perfection we must necessarily attach 
the idea of holiness or sanctification to the fullest extent 
of which we are capable in our present state. What St. 
Paul means by being sanctified wholly (I Thess. 5:22) and 
by standing complete in all the will of God (Col. 4 :I2 ) 
I am fully persuaded after much careful study that the 
term sanctify and sanctification as used by Christ and 


48 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


the apostles means to make clean, render pure in a 
moral sense, to purify, to sanctify. To sanctify is em- 
ployed by St. Paul. I Thess. 5:23; Heb. 2:11; 10:10, 
14, in the sense of being purified from all moral defile- 
ment. Purity of heart. “The word sanctify,” says Dr. 
Adam Clarke, “has two meanings: 1. It signifies to con- 
secrate, to separate from earth and common use, and to 
devote and dedicate to God and His service. 2. It signi- 
fies to make holy or pure.” 

Justification implies the pardon of sin and the sub- 
jugation of the body of sin, and complete sanctification 
implies its entire destruction. The following statement 
from Mr. Watson is clear: “Sanctification in this world 
must be complete; the whole nature must be sanctified; 
all sin must be utterly abolished, or the soul can never 
be admitted into the glorious presence of God. Heb. 
11 114 ; I Pet. 1 :i5.” 

The learned John Goodwin says: 

That it is a duty lying upon all men to strive after that 
which the Scripture calleth perfection; and, consequently, to 
exercise themselves in such things which are proper to invest 
them with such a capacity as we speak of, to qualify them for 
the high places in the world to come, is of easy demonstration 
and proof, both from the Scripture and otherwise. “Be you 
therefore perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” It 
might be translated more emphatically, “You shall therefore be 
perfect,” for so the future tense in the indicative mood is many 
times used, instead of the imperative, only with the greater 
seriousness and weight. As he that enjoineth, or commandeth, 
when he would signify and express his authority to the height, 
he doth not simply say unto him that he would have him to do a 
thing, Do this, or that, but he saith unto him, You shall do 
it, or, You must do it. So here, You shall be perfect, as youi 
Father which is in heaven is perfect; as if he should say, I im- 
pose it upon you as a matter of sovereign concernment, both 
unto me and to yourselves, that you give out yourselves to the 
utmost in striving to imitate the perfection of your heavenly 
Father, and to be as absolute in all things appertaining unto 


THE GREATEST THEME OF ALL 


49 


you to do, as He is in all things that are honorable and proper 
for so great a majesty to do” 1 (quoted by Dr. George Peck). 

Dr. Worthington says: 

Various have been the disputes which, from St. Austin’s 
days to the present time, have been agitated between several 
sects and denominations of Christians concerning perfection, 
and the attainableness of it; the chief ground of which I take to 
have been the supposition, that human nature is not generally 
capable of rising above its present level. And therefore those 
who have formed the highest notion of perfection, have pre- 
tended most of it, have most strongly recommended it to 
others, and pleaded for the attainableness of it, have met with 
so little success; but have generally been looked upon as no 
better than enthusiasts, and their labors have either tended 
to make others such, or have been received with coldness and 
indifference, if not rejected with contempt. And, indeed, while 
we suppose the present degeneracy of human nature to be in- 
vincible, we cannot form any notion of human perfection but 
what necessarily includes a contradiction in it; or if we under- 
stand it in its just sense and full import, we must, by the sup- 
position, give up the attainableness of it. So that all talk 
about perfection must, on this supposition, be absurd and idle, 
and all pretences to it must become airy and chimerical. But 
if, on the one hand, we suppose that nature shall, by degrees, 
be so refined by grace, as at length to be fully recovered of 
its present disorders; then all difficulties immediately vanish, 
and we may easily apprehend what is meant by Christian per- 
fection in its full extent; this being but another word for the 
recovery of the original perfection of our nature, to which, 
when it is arrived at its full height, I conceive it will be in no 
respect inferior. That human nature shall in this life arrive 
at such a complete state of perfection as this, besides what 
has been already observed, may be further argued from the 
consequences of the opposite opinion. For I conceive, that the 
doctrine of the impossibility of attaining perfection, and free- 
dom from sin, is injurious to our Savior Christ, derogates from 
the power and virtue of His sacrifice, and renders His mission 
as to the main end of it, in a great measure ineffectual” (quoted 
by Dr. Peck). 

We have shown that the doctrine of holiness is 
derived from divine revelation. 


50 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


It is a doctrine that is true in itself. 

That it came not from man, nor from uncertain tra- 
dition, but from the God of truth. 

A comprehensive view of the doctrine of justification 
and sanctification. 

I am led to conclude that we shall not get a satisfac- 
tory answer to the doctrine of holiness without having 
recourse to the nature and extent of man’s sinful state. 

Man is in a twofold state of sin. i. Man is guilty 
and needs pardon, 2. Man is polluted and needs cleansing. 

Justification in the very nature of things neces- 
sarily comes first in order in the redemption of man, for 
the reason that the record of our past sins must first be 
pardoned or blotted out so that we are no longer obnox- 
ious to God. That justification by faith, through the 
atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the first 
initiatory step that the sinner must take in order to be 
reconciled to his God. 

Guilt — involves or implies crime and requires par- 
don. And therefore to assert “that the soul is cleansed 
from all sin or moral pollution in the work of justifica- 
tion” is a doctrine not true to facts. Crimes cannot be 
cleansed, they must be pardoned. 

To assert that the impurities of the soul can be par- 
doned is not a doctrine of the Scriptures, nor has it any 
foundation in reason. 

There is not a principle in philosophy by which it 
can be proved to be either possible or plausible. 

To assert that sins or intentional sinful acts can be 
cleansed is incapable of any kind of rational proof. 

Impurity requires cleansing. Man is not only sinful 
by practice, but he is by nature impure. 

Sanctification or complete holiness is that state of 
grace whereby the soul is cleansed from all moral impur- 
ities. As man is impure and unholy in his nature: and 


THE GREATEST THEME OF ALL 


51 


as there is no method by which to pardon impurity he 
must be cleansed. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth 
from all unrighteousness. 1. Justification or pardon of 
sin implies no more in itself than the removal of that guilt 
and condemnation which exposed the sinner to eternal 
perdition. This, in itself, gives no right to assume that 
pardon and sanctification are necessarily connected in the 
one work. Pardon of guilt and the purification of the 
soul from pollution are not so connected that one must 
imply the other. 


f 




CHAPTER V 


THE GREATEST THEME OF ALL — CONTINUED 

Universal ignorance has laid the groundwork and 
foundation for the opposition to the doctrine of holiness. 
All the books that have been written against the doc- 
trine form a monument of religious folly, and the effort 
of human weakness. 

That which we rationally believe must first be 
intelligently understood. I believe that a proper notion 
of God, a correct understanding of the end for which 
man was created, a clear insight into the plan of human 
redemption, and a correct mode of interpreting Scrip- 
ture are indispensable to a clear comprehension of the 
doctrine of holiness. 

We refuse to accept the proposition that “holiness 
or sanctification is unattainable in this life,” for the 
following reasons: 

I. The theory does not conform to scriptural facts. 
The doctrine of holiness is stated in the Scriptures in as 
clear and express terms as the doctrines of the new 
birth or justification, and is as ascertainable by sound 
philosophy and common sense. If the objection be valid 
against holiness, it is equally so against justification or 
the new birth. 

Take the sacred writers in their distinct mode of 
expression and of the terms used relative to the new 
birth or justification and of sanctification or holiness and 
we find that each doctrine has an equal degree of 
expression and correctness that affix a primary and 

53 


54 THE redeeming purpose of god 

definite meaning to each particular or specified doctrine. 
The sacred writers follow a distinct mode of expression 
in their doctrinal teaching so as to render each doctrine 
distinct in itself. That is, each scriptural doctrine has 
an attainable and definite signification of its own clearly 
expressed. To read into or read out of a formula that 
which does not naturally belong to a proposition or text 
is an error that is fatal to the satisfactory investigation 
of truth. Not to be mentally honest is irrational and 
impious. 

Leaving the dialectician to grope his obscure way to 
uncertain opinions, we come forth into the broad, clear 
light of sound philosophy, and of the Holy Scriptures. 
Our subject assumes its proper position, and offers itself 
to its proper tests. We assert that holiness or sanctifica- 
tion is a doctrine of the Scriptures. We therefore dis- 
miss all considerations as to the improbability of the 
doctrine in question, since the divine testimony is in- 
fallibly true. To this very determination do the follow- 
ing quotations according to their natural and most 
obvious import refer: namely, the doctrine of holiness 
or sanctification. In Heb. 2:11, Paul positively asserts 
the doctrine of sanctification as a matter of fact. Hear 
him : “For both he that sanctifieth and they who are 
sanctified are all of one.” Two things are here posi- 
tively asserted, namely, (1) Christ is the sanctifier, and 
(2) the believer is the sanctified. Paul’s argument is 
simply this : Christ as sanctifier and the work of sancti- 
fying His people is the right resulting from the founda- 
tion of His mediatorial distinction, and of which His 
incarnation and Godhead is the appropriate and acknowl- 
edged evidence. Read verses 14, 15, 16 and chap. 1 : 
2, 3. That is, sanctification is a thing inseparable from 
the process of our Redeemer’s mediatorial work. 

That is to say, the apostle informs the Jews that 


THE GREATEST THEME OF ALL 


55 


Christ as sanctifier and His work of sanctifying His 
people is found in immediate connection with the loftiest 
prerogatives and functions of the mediatorial dignity 
and absolute universal, unrestricted, and irresistible 
dominion as Savior over the world, the flesh (sin), and 
the devil. 

The objectors to this doctrine will do well to look 
into the tenses of the verbs “sanctifieth” and “sancti- 
fied. The facts contained in the tense make the text 
to mean that Jesus is all the time present sanctifying the 
believer and the believer is all the time being sanctified. 

The nature and extent of the doctrine in question 
is also positively expressed. 

The nature and extent of the sanctified are here 
said to be “all of one,” sameness in kind or quality, a 
unit, not two natures different in kind, but one certain, 
particular sameness in kind, one in accord. A nature 
that is wholly sanctified is in perfect accord with the 
nature of Christ, the sanctifier. Paul’s express purpose 
in his epistles is to set men right upon the person of 
our blessed Redeemer and His finished work of redemp- 
tion. In I Thess. 5 : 23, 24, he positively states the doc- 
trine of sanctification, and the faithfulness of God to 
sanctify. “The very God of peace sanctify you wholly,” 
that is, finish, complete, or bring you into that state of 
“Christian perfection.” And in the 24th verse he gives 
his reasons for his admonition: “Faithful is he that calleth 
you, who also will do it.” 

The fourth chapter of First Thessalonians leaves no 
doubt of the apostle’s sense. “For God hath not called 
us unto uncleaness, but unto holiness.” These terms 
are the most express and positive in asserting the doc- 
trine under question. How then stands the fact ? I answer, 
holiness is a gospel doctrine. 

St. John studiously set himself to give confirmation 


56 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


and sanction to the notion of holiness, and assigns to 
it a natural, precise place in the system of evangelical 
theology. Without check or limit his entire writings are 
imbued, ramified, and saturated with holiness of heart 
and of life. Hear him: “He that committeth sin is of 
the devil” ; “whosoever is born of God doth not commit 
sin.” “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to 
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteous- 
ness.” “The blood of Jesus cleanseth us from all sin.” 
“Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, 
even as he is pure.” 

In the foregoing texts the apostle offers a venerable 
prescription for sin. The Lord Jesus in His prayer 
asserts that the doctrine of holiness necessarily belongs 
to the new covenant. He prayed, “I sanctify myself 
that they also might be sanctified.” “That they may 
be one, even as we are one : I in them ; and thou in 
me, that they may be made perfect in one.” (Cf. John 17.) 

There are several fundamental principles that 
naturally grow out of these Scriptures: 

1. Christ is the model of purity or sanctification. 
“I sanctify myself that they might be sanctified.” 

2. It is the office of Christ to restore man to that 
state of holiness he lost in the fall. 

3. He sanctified or set Himself apart as a sacrificial 
offering that His people might be sanctified. 

4. They that have become the sons of God are 
here said to be transformed into the divine nature, for 
it is said, “that they may be one, even as we are one.” 
This community of nature is the exclusive privilege of 
believers. 

5. The relation of the sanctified to Christ is 
analogous to that which subsists between the divine 
Father and the divine Son. “Even as we are one.” He 
who by nature is sanctified is brought as the immaculate 


THE GREATEST THEME OF ALL 


57 


victim to the cross that we might be sanctified. 

Sanctification negatively considered signifies to set 
apart to a sacred use, and, positively, to be made holy. 
That is in that moral sense it means to be transformed, 
to be assimilated to the sameness of nature of the divine, 
purity without mixture. 

We have followed with fidelity to truth the legiti- 
mate mode of interpretation of terms, hence, the assur- 
ance of an impartial and equitable examination of the 
doctrine in question. The conclusion is that the doctrine 
of holiness is an intelligible and emphatic scriptural doctrine. 

II. To assert that man cannot be saved from sin 
into a state of holiness during his natural life is incon- 
sistent with the nature of infinite holiness. 

Let us begin at the beginning. Holiness is no new 
doctrine, neither is it simply an accepted doctrine of 
the evangelical churches; but it is the inevitable result 
of infinite holiness, and the crying need of man’s con- 
stitutional nature. That is to say, God is the fountain 
and starting point of holiness. The divine architect and 
builder forms and fashions man after Himself. This is 
proof that holiness for man is a fixed law with God. 
In the creation of man God reproduced Himself, as 
nearly as the nature and order of things would allow; 
even to His minutest characteristics. 

In His supremest effort He reproduced His own 
image and likeness in man. “In our image, after our 
likeness.” 

Again, we are required to be holy for the reason 
that God Himself is holy. “And ye shall be holy; for I am 
holy” (see Lev. 11:44, 45). That is, God’s motive and 
reason why man should be holy is that He Himself is holy. 

Holiness is also essential to the deep need of man. 
He is not his complete self, nor his true self without 
holiness. Whatever was essential for the well-being of 


58 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


man at any time must be essential during the whole 
course of his being. Man had no more holiness in the 
beginning than was essential for his well-being; conse- 
quently, since man has lost that state of holiness in 
which he was originally created it is only natural and 
essential to his well-being that he be restored to holiness. 
The very constitutional nature of man requires that he 
should be holy in order that he might be happy, and 
fitted for the association of holy beings. 

III. To assume that man cannot cease from sin, 
and be raised to a state of holiness, is contrary to the 
will of God. It is plainly asserted by the apostle, “This 
is the will of God, even your sanctification.” 

Now if God wills to sanctify the soul the result 
must be dependent solely on His omnipotence united 
to His intelligence and moral capacity. 

God can do all that can be done and will do all 
that is necessary to be done. It is necessary that the 
soul should be sanctified. God has willed that the soul 
should be sanctified. He is abundantly able to sanctify 
all that come unto Him by Christ. 

IV. To assert that holiness is unattainable in this 
life is inconsistent with the redeeming purpose of God. 

The remedial measure offered for the redemption 
of man was to restore him to that divine image and 
likeness which he had lost. This is accomplished by saving 
man from the guilt of sin, the power of sin, the love of sin, 
and the inbeing of sin. 

Man is guilty and needs pardon, is polluted and 
needs cleansing — all of which God has most graciously 
provided in the shed blood of His Son Jesus Christ. 
“The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin.” In the 
mediatorial work of Christ He is said to be “able to 
save to the uttermost.” He is able to cleanse the soul 
from its uttermost depths of sin and corruption up to the 


THE GREATEST THEME OF ALL 59 

uttermost heights of holiness to which is possible for 
an infinite God to save man. 

Every artist plans in reference to some end. It is 
not less true in the work of the divine architect and 
builder. He has planned His work, and worked His 
plan, hence the capital result is a holy man. In the 
beginning He made man holy. This pure state was 
lost. In the plan of salvation God purposes to remake 
man holy. If He made man holy in the beginning, 
would it be anything strange for Him to remake him 
holy? St. Paul says this very thing is the result of 
salvation. Hear him: “And that ye put on the new 
man, which after God is created in righteousness and 
true holiness.” “And have put on the new man, which 
is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created 
him” (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10). 

The new-made man or the man made new is made 
or modeled after the original pattern, namely, God. 

Sanctification or complete holiness implies no more 
in itself than the removal or cleansing of the soul 
from all inward corruption, thus removing every obstacle 
that would effectually hinder us from communion with 
the Deity. The attempt to limit the meaning of the 
doctrine of justification and of sanctification as here 
expressed is a violent outrage against the plain gram- 
matical meaning of the two terms as used by Christ 
and the apostles. 

1. We have shown that holiness does not consist 
in a system of opinions, orthodox or heterodox, but is 
an indispensable factor in the plan of salvation. 

2. That holiness is a grand subject of Christ and 
the apostle’s preaching. 

3. That the doctrine of sanctification, or the puri- 
fication of the soul from all unrighteousness is as clearly 


6o 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


taught in the Scriptures as the doctrine of justification 
or the pardon of sin. 

4. That sanctification or complete holiness is es- 
sential to a meetness for heaven. 

How true the words of the Rev. Joseph Cook, the 
distinguished author and lecturer, who wrote: 

Choose I must, and soon must choose. 

Holiness, or heaven lose. 

While what heaven loves I hate, 

Shut for me is heaven's gate. 

Light obeyed increaseth light; 

Light resisted bringeth night. 

Who shall give me will to choose. 

If the love of light I lose? 

Speed my soul; this instant yield; 

Let the light its sceptre wield, 

While thy God prolongeth grace. 

Haste toward His holy place ! 


CHAPTER VI 


AN UTTERMOST SALVATION 

"He is able also to save them to the uttermost that 
come unto God by him” (Heb. 7:25). 

It was the design of St. Paul in this epistle to con- 
firm the Jewish Christians, persecuted as apostates by the 
Jews who opposed Christianity. To this purpose the 
apostle shows the superiority of the gospel to Judaism 
and makes it clear how the gospel is superior, namely, 
that Jesus saves to the uttermost. The modern formalist 
now persecutes the doctrines of an uttermost salvation. 
We, too, with St. Paul, though we be persecuted by a 
certain class of religionists, must insist on an uttermost 
salvation. The apostle states it as a fundamental fact 
that Jesus is able to save to the uttermost. I here state 
what I conceive the term “uttermost” to mean. 

1. It is that state of salvation wherein the whole 
soul, spirit, and body is saved so far as an Almighty 
Being is capable of saving in this life. 2. It is that state 
of salvation whereby the whole soul, spirit, and body 
is cleansed from all inward and outward moral defilement, 
so that no sin remains, and is in actual possession of all 
the fulness of God. 3. It is that state of salvation where- 
by we are saved to the very innermost of our being to 
the very outermost extent of our environment that is 
possible for an Almighty Being to save. In a word, it 
is salvation from the utmost depths of sin to the highest 
degree possible, to the utmost extent, breath, and to the 
very length of eternal duration. Then this uttermost sal- 

61 


62 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


vation in its depths reaches to the lowest fallen condition 
of man; to the deepest depravity of the human heart; 
and its heights to the infinite dignity of the throne of 
Christ. 

“Joint heirs with Christ. ,, We share, share equally 
and share alike. “To him that overcometh will I grant to 
sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am 
set down with my Father in his throne.” 

The ability of Christ to save to the uttermost always 
means the potency of Christ in energy not only to save, 
but actual working, saving power, regenerating and sanc- 
tifying, now and through all successive ages as in the 
apostolic times. 

We come now to specify wherein Jesus has the 
ability to save. 

1. He is able to deliver the soul from the guilt of 
sin. Man is guilty and needs pardon. We must be de- 
livered from our record of sin, else we can not be at peace 
with our God. No man can be at peace himself, 
with his God, and with his conscience except Christ de- 
liver him from the record of his sins. The forgiveness 
of sins is the beginning of a Christian life. Pardon is 
exactly what all sinners need. They must be released from 
their past transgressions. This pardon is the work of our 
redeeming God, our Saviour Jesus Christ. God is deal- 
ing with a sinful race, which naturally involves pardon. 

2. He is able to save from the power of sin. If we 
would be saved we must avoid all sin, all irregular and 
disorderly passions. We must keep a conscience void of 
offense toward God and toward man. We must set God 
before our eyes. We must have right motives in reference 
to righteousness. All our doing must begin, continue, and 
end in righteousness. St. Paul most explicitly declares 
that sin shall not have dominion over you. “Let not sin 
therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey 


AN UTTERMOST SALVATION 


63 


it in the lusts thereof.” “Being then made free from sin, 
ye became the servants of righteousness” (Rom. 6: 12, 18). 
Read carefully the whole chapter, which proves that sin- 
ning is utterly foreign to Christian integrity. A sinning 
professor of religion stands in the same relation to Christ 
as an unvirtuous wife to her husband. It is corrupt, infi- 
delity. Read Rom. 7: 1-6. John says, “Whosoever is born 
of God doth not commit sin.” “He that committeth sin 
is of the devil.” “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not.” 
“He was manifested to take away our sins” (John 3:5-9). 
No man with bad intentions can be a Christian. No man 
can sin, neither does he sin unless he has bad intentions, 
therefore he who sins can not be a Christian. 

3. Jesus has the ability to save from the power of 
sin, consequently if any refuse to be saved from the power 
of sin it establishes his guilt. No man with such a 
record of sin can be at peace with himself and his God. 

A profligate in practice is a sinner. He who breaks 
God’s holy law can not be a Christian. The wickedness in 
his practices proves him evil in his affections for out of 
the heart proceed sins of all kinds. God is able to save 
from the power of sin. 

4. He is able to save from the love of sin. The evil 
affections argue wicked motives. But Christ has power to 
change our vile affections and refine and sublime all the 
passions and appetites of our being. The want to sin is 
taken out for the reason the affections are made new. In 
this state of mind the desires are all satisfied by full pos- 
session of love to God. The affections cleave to Christ, not 
to the world. “Set your affections on things above,” 
says the great apostle, “not on things on the earth. ” The 
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy 
Ghost which is given unto us. This love is immaculate. 
It is begotten by the Holy Ghost. It implies filial love 
and filial obedience. Having this love begotten within us. 


64 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


it is only natural to love and obey God. This love is the 
incentive to all obedience to God. Our Lord Jesus Christ 
is omnipotent; therefore He is able to do all things^, supera- 
bundantly above the greatest abundance, and who that 
has any rational or scriptural views of His power can 
doubt that He can save from the love of sin? Then how 
absurd to acknowledge His power to do so and so if there 
was no assurance that He will do what His power can do, 
and what the soul of man needs to have done. As one 
has aptly remarked, “All that He can do, and all that 
He has proposed to do, will be done according to what 
He has already done by that power, which strongly with 
great energy worketh in us.” The power of Christ acts 
with energy, expelling the vile, purifying and refining the 
affections and desires, and implanting heavenly disposi- 
tions, infusing its own glorious nature through our 
souls; so that we do not knowingly indulge in any evil. 
Christ by His almighty energy destroys the love of sin. 

“Since my eyes were fixed on Jesus, 

I’ve lost sight of all besides; 

So enchained my spirit’s vision. 

Looking at the Crucified.” 

5. He is able to save from the very inbeing of sin. 
Man is not only guilty, and needs pardon, but he is pol- 
luted and needs cleansing. This vile affection in the heart 
has a mighty power, “for,” says St. Paul, it “is enmity 
against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither 
indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7). The old carnal man has a 
mighty power ; but however powerful, however great, how- 
ever malevolent, however well circumstanced, to accom- 
plish the purpose of its malevolence, when opposed to the 
infinite power of our Christ it becomes an infinite impo- 
tency. He is able to eternally confound Satan and destroy 
all sin in our hearts. Christ is able to save to the utter- 
most in every degree. He was manifested to destroy the 
works of the devil. This infection, this moral pest, the 


AN UTTERMOST SALVATION 


65 


plague spot of man’s heart, is the work of Satan; con- 
sequently Jesus died that we might be purified from all 
moral defilement. “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son 
cleanseth from all sin.” 

The ability of Christ to save from all sin is inseparably 
connected with His willingness, the one indisputably 
implying the other. No intervening causes (aside from 
man’s will) can prevent His illimitable power from over- 
coming and destroying all sin, inwardly and outwardly. 

The end proposed in the atonement of Christ is 
proof that He is able to save to the uttermost. The 
dignity of the redeeming nature of Christ gave infinite 
value to His shed blood. He was God and man incarnate 
in one person, who shed His blood to the end that we 
might be saved from all sin. He was man that He might 
shed blood, but He was God that His blood might be 
stamped with an infinite value. The cleansing from all sin 
is by the merit of the blood which Christ shed in His pas- 
sion and death. It is only reasonable to believe that such 
a sacrifice of infinite merit is sufficient to save to the utter- 
most. We can no more limit the saving merit of Christ’s 
shed blood than we can limit His eternity. There is no 
let or limit in the blood of Christ to save. “We have re- 
demption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sin.” 
“The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from 
all sin.” How absurd and so contradictory to the economy 
of redemption to assert that the blood of Jesus can not 
cleanse us from all sin, since incarnate Deity has shed His 
blood for the proposed end that we might be saved from 
all sin. The amplitude, fulness, and infinite merit of 
the atonement is the great provision on which man’s sal- 
vation rests. (1) Its amplitude: “He tasted death for 
every man.” (2) Its fulness: “The blood of Jesus Christ 
his Son cleanseth from all sin.” (3) Infinite merit: “To 
feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his 


66 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


own blood.” The modern pulpit is attempting to get rid 
of the Godhead of our blessed Redeemer and His vicari- 
ous sacrifice. But nothing less than a sacrifice of infinite 
merit could have met the urgent necessities of man’s deep 
need, and if Jesus had not been absolutely and essentially 
God, He could not have offered such a sacrifice. Paul ex- 
pressly says that “the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ: 
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all 
iniquity (Titus 2:13, 14). Man is so fallen — fallen from 
God, fallen into moral corruption, fallen from righteous- 
ness and true holiness, in which he was originally created — 
that nothing less than incarnate Deity making atonement 
for sin could have saved him from his wretched, undone 
condition. Mr. Burkitt’s masterly statement on this tre- 
mendous theme is as follows: “Jesus Christ was man 
that He might have blood to shed and He was God that 
when the blood was shed, it might be of infinite value.” 
This is sufficient proof that the atonement is sufficient to 
save from all sin. Dr. Adam Clarke says, “Take Deity 
away from any redeeming act of Christ, and redemption 
is ruined.” Jesus Christ our Savior is the omnipotent 
Redeemer. Therefore, His ability to save from all sin, 
inward and outward, and all the time, is incontestable. 

Sin made man unholy, impure : Jesus came to make him 
holy and pure. Sin must have no place in man — our 
blessed Redeemer must undo the work of the devil. 
To assert that Jesus can not save from all sin 
would be shocking blasphemy against His infinite power 
and Godhead. To say He would not would be equally such 
against His love for us. He is able to save from all sin, 
whether it be in power, guilt or defilement; for His blood 
cleanses from all sin. The atonement is the great provision 
on which man’s salvation rests. Its fulness is its se- 
curity. “He tasted death for every man.” Thus its infinite 
fulness. 


AN UTTERMOST SALVATION 


67 


The blood of Christ His Son cleanseth from all sin. 
This is its fulness. Uttermost. “There is a fountain filled 
with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins.” God’s veins 
supply almighty, unlimited power to cleanse from all in- 
ward and outward defilement. For the source of our sal- 
vation is another truth that Jesus Christ is able to save 
to the uttermost. God stands pledged to insure success 
to any who will make an unconditional self-surrender to 
Him. Christ is more than a founder of a historical re- 
ligion. He is more than our example to teach us how to 
live. He is the world-redeeming Mediator, the God-man 
making atonement for sin. Divine atonement is the fun- 
damental doctrine of Christianity. The Scriptures ex- 
pressly declare that Christ made atonement for our sins. 
John 1 : 29, “The Lamb of God, which taketh away the 
sin of the world.” In Matt. 20:28 Christ Himself says, 
“The Son of man came .... to give his life a ransom 
for many.” “This cup is the new treatment in my blood, 
which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). “Thou wast slain, 
and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood” (Rev. 5:9). 
Thus we see that the very proposed end for which the 
spotless Lamb of God shed His blood was to redeem us 
from all iniquity and purify us from inward and outward 
defilement. The atonement in its practical application is 
not dubious or difficult of interpretation. It points to one 
great end — redemption from sin. 

The deity of Christ is proof that He can save to the 
uttermost. The ability of Christ to save from sin is only 
possible on the grounds of His deity. Because He is divine 
He can give free pardon of all the guilt of all sinners and 
the full and complete purification of the pollution of all 
justified souls; keep them from all sins in this present 
evil world, and finally bring them to an eternity of blessed- 
ness. He is the author and source of creation, conse- 
quently He who made man in the beginning, it would only 


68 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


be reasonable to suppose, could remake him or make him 
a new creature, cleanse his moral corruption, and restore 
him to the divine image and fill him with all the fulness 
of God. The author of our redemption is the supreme and 
eternal God. Therefore His ability to save “to the utter- 
most” is clear for this reason. It seems to me that any 
sane, unbiased man can see that the person and character 
of our Redeemer is a pledge of His ability to save from 
all sin., To assert that Christ can not save from all sin is 
to admit that the devil has done a work that God Himself 
can not undo. The Scripture speaks sufficiently of our Re- 
deemer and God, and clothes Him with every essential of 
a supreme and essential God. 

He was God and all things were made by Him, and 
for Him, and without Him was nothing made that was 
made, and He is before all things ; and by Him do all 
things consist. He was God manifest in the flesh ; for 
that Word which was God was made flesh and taber- 
nacled among us, and in that flesh dwelt all fulness 
of the Godhead bodily. This is another proof that He 
who is the source and origin of a universe is able to 
save to the uttermost. 

This uttermost salvation is proof from it’s being God’s 
proposed plan of human redemption, (i) Any scheme 
which God’s wisdom may devise is sufficient proof of its 
efficiency to meet all the urgent needs of man’s fallen con- 
dition. He has proposed to save man to the uttermost, 
and His infinite power is at hand to carry into effect His 
gracious purpose. The infinite fulness of God can supply 
all the possible demands of the soul. There can be no 
possible failure in the fountain of infinite grace. Our 
heavenly Father has devised means to save us from all 
sin. To effect this glorious purpose to the world He gave 
His own Son that whosoever believeth on Him might not 
perish, but have everlasting life. (2) A testimony of the 


AN UTTERMOST SALVATION 


69 


Bible asserts this uttermost salvation as a fact, which is 
another incontestable proof of its reality. Jesus Himself 
announced this glorious doctrine. “Blessed are the pure 
in heart, for they shall see God.” St. Paul says, “That 
you might be filled with all the fulness of God.” John 
says, “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us 
from all sin.” 

Again, St. Paul says of the effectual saving efficacy 
of the gospel, “It is the power of God unto salvation.” 
There is an infinite meaning in that word “power.” It 
expresses the assurance of success in its undertaking to 
save from the power of sin, the love of sin, and the 
inbeing of sin. The value of salvation is in its ability and 
integrity to save from sin. This is what Christ is said 
to do. All power belongs to Christ. “All power in heaven 
and in earth is given unto me,” says Jesus. Power to par- 
don all guilt. Power to regenerate the soul. Power to 
cleanse from all inward and outward corruption. Power 
to keep and preserve us in all temptations and trials com- 
mon to man. Power to infill us with all the fulness of 
the blessed Holy Spirit. Power to make us efficient in 
every sphere of life that is sanctified with His presence. 
He has power to give you an undimmed vision, so that you 
shall see your star of destiny, bright and victorious, un- 
seen by carnal men, and seeing this, your courage shall not 
fail you, neither will you be dismayed. He has power to 
give you a fidelity that is radical in its spirit, uncompro- 
mising and aggressive, that will brand sin and Satan in 
and out of the church as usurpers and will wage a war of 
extermination against them. This uttermost salvation 
makes the possessor awfully intense. He is able to give 
you a permanent endowment of the Holy Spirit. “That 
he may abide you for ever” (John 14:16). This in- 
dwelling and abiding of the Holy Ghost is positive, spe- 
cific, conscious experience. Reader, this is the legacy that 


70 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


Christ has bequeathed to you. Will you separate yourself 
from all sin in order to receive it ? 

“Take my poor heart and and let it be, 

Forever closed to all but Thee.” 

“The cleansing stream, I see, I see, 

I plunge, and, oh, it cleanses me.” 

“Jesus saves, oh, bliss sublime, 

Jesus saves me all the time.” 

“The blood, the blood, is all my plea; 

Hallelujah, it cleanses me.” 

Doctor Foster has well said, 

The doctrine we contend for is not limited to a bare and 
questionable place, a doubtful and uncertain existence in the 
holy records; but is repeatedly and abundantly, explicitly and 
with great clearness, embodied as a cardinal feature throughout 
the whole system. It breathes in prophecy, thunders in the law, 
murmurs in the narrative, whispers in the promises, supplicates 
in the prayers, sparkles in the poetry, resounds in the songs, 
speaks in the types, glows in the imagery, voices in the lan- 
guage, and burns in the spirit of the whole scheme [of redemp- 
tion], from its alpha to its omega, from its beginning to its end. 
Holiness! Holiness needed. Holiness required. Holiness 
offered. Holiness attainable. Holiness a present duty, a present 
privilege, a present enjoyment, is the process and com- 
pleteness of its wondrous theme. It is the truth glow- 
ing all over, webbing all through revelation, the glorious truth 
which sparkles and whispers, and sings, and shouts in all its 
history and biography, and poetry and prophecy, and precepts, 
and promises and prayer; the great central truth of the sys- 
tem. The wonder is that all do not see, that any rise up to 
question, a truth so conspicuous, so glorious, so full of comfort.” 

God Himself has enjoined holiness as our present duty. 
“Ye shall be holy; for I am holy” (Lev. n : 44). He has 
provided ample means through Jesus Christ, who is able 
to save us to the uttermost. Here is Christ’s atonement 
and fulness to save. Will you risk the awful responsibility 
not to accept Christ as your complete Savior from all 
sin? Or will you now yield to the claims of God? Will 


AN UTTERMOST SALVATION 


7 1 


you now receive this great salvation? It is emphatically 
the gift of God. If we refuse such ample and glorious 
provision made for our redemption from sin we do it at 
the risk of our eternal undoing. 

We justly claim that all sin is avoidable and un- 
necessary for the following reasons : ( i ) Because God 

has so constituted man that he may cease from sinning. 
(2) The atoning blood of Jesus Christ is so divine in 
its infinite merit as to subdue, cleanse, and destroy 
all those innate evils which are the immediate conse- 
quences of transgression, thus rendering sin avoidable 
and unnecessary. Sin is the effect of deliberate choice 
and of our own wilful obstinacy against the divine 
commands, yielding to the solicitations of Satan. We 
are solicited to sin through our passions and appetites. 
God by His own eternal power and energy gave man a 
will that he might be a free, rewar dable, or punishable 
moral agent. Freedom is essential to the being of will; 
hence, where will exists there appears of necessity the 
power of choice or refusal. This is the basic principle 
upon which the whole revelation of God is addressed 
to man. Deut. 30: 15, 16, 19: “See, I have set before thee 
this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I 
command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, 
to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments 
and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest 
live and multiply. I call heaven and earth to record this 
day against you, that I have set before you life and 
death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that 
both thou and they seed may live. ,, Matt. 23:37: 
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, 
and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would 
I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen 
gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would 
not!” In this Scripture, we see God consistent with 


72 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


Himself and the rational creature which He hath made 
in appealing to man’s free volition in reference to choice 
and refusal. 

Once again, only as the will is superior to all force 
or constraint does man continue a rational creature. 
It is the will alone that renders man capable of salva- 
tion or damnation. Man’s will is the sole ground of 
his accountableness to God. It is the inheritance of all 
to stand and conquer, to resist and vanquish the foe. Satan 
may solicit us to sin but he cannot force us to do so. The 
will is so divinely constituted that it cannot be forced. Satan 
may flatter us and arouse the passions in order to gain over 
the will, but before he can overcome us, he must get 
the consent of our will. The indomitable will is our 
entrenchment which our most powerful foes cannot 
force and God will not. Then is it not conclusive, if the 
self-determination of the will be stronger than the temp- 
tations, Satan cannot induce us to sin? You may will 
to sin or you may will not to sin. You may will to 
bear the similitude of Satan, or the divine image just 
as you choose. Common sense should correct bad 
habits, but the blood of Jesus Christ alone can cleanse 
the disorderly passions. While by choice we leave behind 
us all our sins, sinful companions, and sinful habits, 
we cannot through the sheer force of will cleanse our 
sinful nature. Through the energy of the will we may 
maintain an honorable dignity over sinful habits, yet 
it is the blood of Jesus alone that can cleanse our sin- 
ful nature. Moreover, the breaking of the power of sin 
so that it has no longer dominion over us, the removal 
of the guilt of sin so that our conscience no longer 
condemns us, and the purifying of our soul from all evil 
tempers, passions, and disorderly appetites is the sole 
work of Christ, the Redeemer. 

In view of the foregoing facts, how can men be 


AN UTTERMOST SALVATION 


73 


satisfied with the slender attainments of the divine life? 
How is it possible for intelligent men to plead for the 
practice of sin and for the necessary and degrading con- 
tinuance of indwelling sin, since in Jesus Christ there 
is no let nor limit in His redeeming power? Nothing is 
too great for believers to expect, since God has promised, 
and Christ has purchased with His blood. 

Reader, whatever may be the vulgar and contempt- 
ible suggestions of Satan, they may be as hopeless as 
they are impious, if we but stand and resist. Satan 
may increase our difficulties, distress our minds, and 
retard our progress, but he cannot effectually overcome 
us. Temptation depends upon constitutional suscepti- 
bility, while the expectations of eventual triumph de- 
pends upon the amount of voluntary resistance and self- 
determination of the will coupled with the almighty 
energy of a never-failing Christ. The temptations, 
sufferings, and triumphs of Christ render Him an example 
of our imitation. The apostle Paul says, “In that he 
himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to succor 
them that are tempted” (Heb. 2:18). The world’s only 
redeeming mediator was free from all sinful proclivities, 
yet He was tempted, but never with sinful results and 
furthermore without the possibility of sinful results. 
The human nature of Christ was supported by His 
divinity. He took human nature and triumphed over 
sin that all humanity might triumph. The very object 
contemplated in the incarnation is that the human and the 
divine might be one and thus triumph over sin and Satan. 
The union of the divine and human natures in the one 
theonthropic person of Christ illustrates the blessed moral 
union subsisting between Him and His brethren. There- 
fore the apostle Paul says, “Forasmuch then as the chil- 
dren are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself like- 
wise took part of the same ; For verily he took not on him 


74 THE redeeming purpose of god 

the nature of angels ; but he took on him the seed of Abra- 
ham. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made 
like unto his brethren” (Heb. 2: 14-17). 

However, the teachings of Christ more fully and 
more emphatically declare this glorious truth. “Holy 
Father, keep through thine own name those whom 
thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are” ; 
“that they also may be one in us” ; “that they may be one, 
even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they 
may be made perfect in one” (see John 17). Moreover, 
take as an illustration of this fact the mutual love and 
fellowship between Christ and His members under the 
parable of the vine. See John 15:5-10. Here Christ 
declares the inseparable union and blessed fellowship that 
exists between Him and His true believers. “He that 
abideth in me, and I in him, .... If ye abide in me, 

. . . . continue ye in my love If ye keep my 

commandments, ye shall abide in my love ; even as I 
have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his 
love.” We learn from this Scripture that the cleansing 
of our nature, the constant abiding in Christ, and the 
overcoming of the world is not a mere theory but a 
fact taught by our blessed Redeemer. Once again, it 
is a noticeable fact that the divine nature which sup- 
ported the human nature of Christ in His temptations 
is an evident fact that our human nature is supported 
by the divine as here taught by our blessed Lord. 

In conclusion we would say, withdraw the possi- 
bility of restoration to the divine image and a constant 
triumph over the world, the flesh, and the devil and the 
whole redeeming work of Christ is instantly thrown into 
obscurity. In assuming that God purchased through 
the blood of Christ reconciliation and cleansing unto the 
uttermost and deliverance from temptation, we firmly 
establish ourselves upon the rock of eternal ages. 


CHAPTER VII 


Christ's method of teaching holiness 

“Never man spake like this man.” 

Aristotle gave us his categories. All thinkers who 
have come after him seek the same method of thought. 
The limitation of our knowledge forces us to inquiry ; but 
Jesus is utterly unlike the philosopher, the scientist, and 
the theologian. He offers no philosophy of the plan of 
salvation, but He did give us a world-uplifting, heart 
changing, heart sanctifying salvation corresponding to the 
deep, crying need of the immortal soul. He gave us no 
formal creed or “articles of religion.” He said nothing 
about “systematic theology.” He gave no precise defini- 
tions nor exact limitations of His words; He left them to 
have their full sweep without let or limit. It is one of 
those difficult lessons that the most of men have not yet 
learned that they who accept Christ must of necessity 
fully accept His teaching. There is no choosing of 
doctrines and principles, for there are no differences. His 
teaching is like the links in a golden chain which form one 
universal whole. It is all inclusive*, nothing exclusive. In 
the discussion we are about to enter nothing will be 
assumed except what is too obvious to question. Plato 
sighed for the coming of a divine man who would make 
clear what to him was dark. Thank God, we have found 
this man in the person of Christ, who has made luminous 
and clear what Socrates, Plato, Buddha, Confucius made 
shadowy and dark. He makes us understand the uni- 
verse, matter and mind, man and God, sin and holiness, 

75 


76 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


conscience and duty, life and death, better than all of them 
put together. 

What is true of these philosophers is true of many 
theologians. They have mixed and muddled and made dark 
what Jesus has made luminous and clear. Theologians of 
all classes, grades, and colors have built up a system or 
plan of salvation. Some have included the doctrine of 
holiness and others have excluded it. Some have made 
clear the doctrine ; other with their verbiage have shrouded 
it in darkness. There has been a good deal of fanciful 
writing concerning the doctrine of holiness, which has given 
us a type of holiness vastly different from that which Jesus 
taught and exemplified. 

Let us look sincerely and thoughtfully into the ever- 
lasting gospel and see if Christ proclaimed the doctrine 
of holiness. 

The first question to ask is this: Did Jesus teach holi- 
ness or sanctification? This much is certain. If we are 
to accept His plain statements upon the doctrines of holi- 
ness, we find it set before us beyond a possible shadow of 
doubt. His method of stating the doctrine of holiness is 
unparalleled by the thought of any; absolutely unique, stu- 
pendous, and as unmistakable in meaning, as simple in 
form of expression. Hear Him: “Blessed are the pure 
in heart : for they shall see God/’ This is one of our 
Lord’s complete, far-reaching, all embracing facts, beyond 
which analysis can not go. 

Here the light shines resplendent and all-revealing ; the 
impure and the pure stand out clear, as when the electric 
search-light shines upon us, and thus reveals to us our true 
inward condition, and at once makes us conscious that we 
ought to be pure in heart. Jesus distinctly recognized the 
moral corruption in man, and that man’s miseries sprang 
from the root of sin. The chief peculiarity of His salva- 
tion is to deliver men from the penalty of sin and the 


Christ's method of teaching holiness 77 

guilt of sin, and the power of sin and the love of sin, and 
the pollution or inbeing of sin ; and thus bring him into 
harmony with God. He struck at the inward moral pollu- 
tion of man as the root of all possible evil ; hence, He teaches 
that it is not enough simply to rid man of his sinful acts, 
but that he must be purified from his inward moral cor- 
ruption. 

Jesus recognized no evil in man’s circumstances: “For 
out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders.” All 
sin comes from within and defiles the man; and it is from 
this defilement that man must be delivered. He does not 
attempt to change man’s circumstances at all — He works 
upon man himself, that He may make him inwardly pure; 
and if made pure and holy all else will follow as a neces- 
sary good. First, last, and all the time Jesus makes “heart 
purity” the one thing needful — the chief good. He does 
not argue about it, but positively states it as a fact. 
The pure in heart only shall see God. What are you going 
to do about it ? 

In this beatitude there is a warning and a promise. 
We are warned that no polluted, sin-stained soul will be 
admitted into the presence of infinite holiness. We are 
promised that “the pure in heart” shall see the beatific 
sight. Oh, glorious reality. They who attempt to qualify 
the words of this beatitude, to down its statement, in order 
to leave a place for retreat from its application, do it to 
their eternal undoing. 


The infinite Giver promises the Comforter which is 
the Holy Ghost. “I will send the Comforter.” The 
responsibility that was about to be imposed upon the 
disciples was without precedent, hence the personal pres- 
ence, plentitude, and power of the Holy Ghost must be 
without parallel. 


78 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


Jesus knew that the future of His kingdom and the 
salvation of the world depended on the personal, in- 
dwelling Holy Spirit among His disciples. Jesus here 
and elsewhere announces that the Holy Ghost (the 
executive of the Godhead) is at Pentecost to take His 
place in the kingdom as His personal successor, clothed 
with omnipotence to execute the plan of human redemp- 
tion. When the church has apprehended her true rela- 
tion to Pentecost and the relation of Pentecost to the 
kingdom of Christ, she will then find the key to the many 
problems now pressing for solution. 

Pentecost came and found the disciples ready. They 
had been living in the sweep of God’s will. They were 
truly justified, and were earnestly and diligently seeking 
to be sanctified. Ten days in patient, prayerful, ex- 
pectant waiting for the promised Comforter, and they 
were not disappointed. “And when the day of Pente- 
cost was fully come, they were all with one record, in one 
place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven. . . . 
And they were all filled with, the Holy Ghost.” Another 
Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, is come upon them. The 
people of God in all dispensations, whether of Gentilism, 
Patriarchism, or Judaism, had the Holy Spirit in His 
essential presence and inworking. But it was left for 
Pentecost for the Holy Ghost to descend or come in 
His official character as the Paraclete, Comforter, helper, 
sanctifier in a fuller sense. Pentecost means all that sanctifi- 
cation, fulness of divine life, and the baptism with the Holy 
Ghost would imply. Pentecost is power in the concrete. 

The baptism of the Holy Ghost confers on the 
church a kind of omnipotence, so that she can boldly 
champion the cause of Christ, free herself from the entangle- 
ments of her environment, and transform men into 
the likeness of Christ. The church stands woefully in 
need of the matchless power of the Holy Spirit, that she 


Christ's method of teaching i: jliness 79 

may apply it in doing the matchless work of evangelizing 
the nations. Pentecostal baptism with the Holy Ghost does 
not mean simply sanctification for one’s own . sake ; but 
sanctification for sacrifice and service. It is to fit us for 
the greatest usefulness and largest service. The fulness 
of the Holy Spirit develops the noblest and highest Christian 
living. Pentecost capitalizes character, makes it the great 
asset with which to do business in this world and the next. 
Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see 
God.” Character is what we are, reputation is what the 
people say of us. Entire sanctification (which is always 
inseparable from the baptism with the Holy Spirit) stands 
for the development of the whole man — body, soul, and 
spirit. As Paul says, “The very God of peace sanctify 
you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul 
and body be preserved blameless.” They who neglect 
Pentecost, sanctification, the whole man suffers. With- 
out holiness of heart and the fulness of the Holy Spirit 
the whole moral substratum becomes weak and decay- 
ing. This is the inexorable law of the dispensation of 
the Holy Ghost. The spiritual kingdom makes no pro- 
vision for unsanctified and un-spirit-filled souls. Pente- 
cost, as taught in the New Testament, is the only factor 
that will meet the soul’s deep need and the church’s 
religious discontent. The love of God shed abroad in 
our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us 
opens the upper windows of the soul, through which we 
get a glimpse of the world invisible. It lifts us above 
the material universe into the larger realms of religious 
and spiritual activity. The gulf stream of Pentecost 
sweeps away the driftwood of formalism and keeps us at 
the high tide of spirituality. Spiritual dearth of the 
worst type is spreading through the churches for lack 
of the personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit. “The day 
of Pentecost was a pattern day. All the days of this 


8o 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


dispensation should have been like it.” But alas! the 
church has woefully departed from the original pattern. 

Unless Pentecost is rebirthed in the church it is 
doomed to fall infinitely short of meeting her divine require- 
ment. 

Lastly. The File-leader in the opening of “the king- 
dom of the Holy Ghost” dispensation was Himself bap- 
tized with the Holy Ghost that from thenceforth all 
those who come after Him should be also baptized with 
the Holy Ghost. Christ the head of the church was 
Spirit-filled, that His body, the church, should be Spirit- 
filled. As is the head, so are the members. 

Remarks, i. If we would be truly happy we must 
live under the sunshine of God's promises. 

2. The foundation of all genuine, abiding comfort 
in time of sorrow and disappointment is in having the 
personal, abiding Comforter in our heart. 

3. Our spiritual life and safety from the perils of 
life depend upon our living in the fulness of Pentecost, 
as taught in the New Testament. 

4. Pentecost is God’s plan for the church in which 
to save herself and the world. 

5. For the church to refuse or neglect the fulness 
of the baptism of the Holy Ghost she can not proceed 
further in safety. 

6. What a consummate blunder to live in such a 
perilous alternative ! What food for everlasting reflec- 
tion and regret in a life lived so selfishly and narrowly 
amid such infinitely wide opportunities ! 




CHAPTER VIII 


PAUL'S METHOD OF TEACHING HOLINESS 

It is not our design to trace continuously all of the 
apostle’s teachings on this doctrine. We shall attempt 
only a brief account of his teachings on the subject. 
Paul is styled the logician of the New Testament. In the 
investigation of truth he got at the basis of things that he 
might know the ultimate facts, beyond which analysis 
can not go. He did not look upon the plan of salvation 
as the ephemeral offspring of infinite intelligence, neither 
did he consider it to be the surviving spawn of an ex- 
ploded philosophy; but viewed it as the stupendous 
economy of an all-wise, infinite, benevolent, omnipotent 
God, proposing to redeem the world from the curse of 
the ages, and heralding the universality of the millennial 
reign. He saw with open vision that man had not only 
lost his original position in the scale of creation, but that 
he was woefully corrupted and depraved. He also saw 
that the results of the long-standing purpose and promise 
of God relative to the restoration of man to the divine 
image was to be consummated in the incarnate Son of 
God. He also saw that the straggling beams of light of 
the old dispensation had passed, and that the Son of 
Righteousness had risen with healing in His wings. He 
further saw that we were no longer to tread the starlit 
path, but travel up the highway of holiness under the 
bolder blaze of the rising sun and the meridian bright- 
ness of the perfect day. In order to get at the basic facts 
of this subject we must note Paul’s doctrine of sin: 

81 


8 2 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


I. Paul enters upon a careful diagnosis of sin. He 
investigates sin that he may especially know precisely its 
nature, knowing this to be of prime importance in the 
successful treatment of it. Otherwise all treatment is 
mere guesswork. It is of prime importance in the suc- 
cessful treatment of a disease for the physician to diag- 
nose the case that he may know precisely the nature of 
the disease, else all treatment is mere guesswork. As a 
wise minister, Paul proceeds upon this fundamental 
principle. His whole ministry shows that by this ap- 
plied principle the very best results were obtained. 

Then, too, the apostle shows that this sin principle 
is the very occasion to sinning. This evil principle is ever 
at work. Paul says, “For that which I do I allow not; for 
what I would that do I not; but what I hate that do I." 
“Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwell- 
eth in me.” “For the good that I would, I do not ; but the 
evil which I would not that I do. Now if I do that 
I would not, it is no more I that do it but sin that dwell- 
eth in me.” This indwelling sin is that which lures into 
sin. Righteousness with God was Paul’s religious goal ; 
but without grace to dominate over and destroy this 
inward sin he proved himself a moral and religious fail- 
ure. In view of man attempting to work out a right- 
eousness of his own which Paul has shown to be a hope- 
less effort, he discloses God’s plan of human redemption, 
which involves that the ultimate goal is to save man 
from sin and to raise him to union and communion with 
Deity. Paul’s proposition is this: 

1. That sin must be destroyed or else it will destroy 
the sinner. 

2. And if we would get rid of sin we must get rid of 
our sinning. 

3. But in order to get rid of sin three things are 
indispensably necessary, namely: 


PAUL'S METHOD OF TEACHING HOLINESS 


83 


(1) Man is guilty and needs pardon. 

(2) He is degenerate and needs regenerating. 

(3) He is polluted and needs cleansing. 

These three tremendous facts necessarily meet in 
human history and the deep need of human nature, the 
presence of sin and the requirement of infinite holiness. 

From these three fundamental propositions the apos- 
tle anwers the question of the ages, “How then can man 
be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born 
of woman?” (Job 15:4). 

Paul proved that sin has the controlling power 
over the unconverted man, and introduced as one proof 
of this fact his experience as a Pharisee, attempting to 
work out a righteousness of his own. The result was 
a moral and religious failure. He further shows that his 
depraved nature is not a mere negation, but a positive 
quality. 

He not only showed that man is deprived of 
God, and that he has lost the image of God out of his 
soul, but that man has an inherent moral virus to con- 
tend with. The assumption that the “carnal mind” is a 
nonenity is simply theological twaddle. Paul has 
stamped the doctrine of total depravity so deeply that 
all the theological juggling in the past ages and ages to 
come will never be able to efface it. If we refuse to face 
the fact of this moral contagion we only prepare disaster 
for ourselves in the future. 

II. Paul states the doctrine of sin. He gives us a 
most graphic and comprehensive description of sin in its 
twofold nature. 1. In its form of guilt. 2. In its form of 
moral corruption. Paul describes depravity or sin prin- 
ciple thus: “I am carnal, sold under sin.” “The carnal 
mind is enmity against God ; for it is not subject to the 
law of God, neither indeed can be,” “sin that dwelleth 
in me/’ “the flesh,” “root of bitterness,” “our old man,” 


84 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

'‘body of sin,” etc. Paul’s proposition is this, namely, 
that man is not only morally degenerate, but morally 
corrupt. This proposition shows that regenerating the 
degenerate nature does not rid man of his depraved, 
corrupt nature. “Sold under sin” involves not only a 
depraved condition, but a bond-slave to this corrupt sin 
principle. This sin principle impels or drives one on- 
ward into evils. By this sin we are actuated to do 
wrong. 

Paul says that sin is a fact. It exists in the form of 
depravity. Sin also is in the heart in the form of guilt. 
Consequently in the investigation of sin Paul not only 
finds that man is guilty on account of having personally 
transgressed the law of God, but that the whole soul 
and all the faculties are in a state of complete moral 
corruption, which resulted from the fall of Adam. That 
is, by the process of heredity Adam handed down to all 
his posterity a depraved or morally corrupt nature. This 
is what we call “nature degeneracy,” “total depravity,” 
which means that the whole man is totally depraved or 
morally corrupt — all his soul and faculties. In proof of 
this fact the Psalmist says, “Behold, I was shapen in 
iniquity ; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” 
Paul has further shown that the moral and religious 
failure of mankind in general, and the various super- 
stitions, and most shocking licentiousness, and vice 
practised under the name of religion — the whole ex- 
planation is to be found in the corruption of the human 
heart. 

III. Paul announces God’s method of justifying 
men. It is this: “Therefore being justified by faith, we 
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” 
(Rom. 5:1). The apostle having proved that the root of 
sin was in the heart, he then set himself to the task to 
prove the indispensable necessity of having sin removed 


PAUL'S METHOD OF TEACHING HOLINESS 85 

from the heart. Therefore the first step requisite in the 
process of getting rid of sin the apostle shows to be 
justification by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. As the 
apostle has shown man to be guilty, condemned before 
a holy law and a God of infinite justice, he has shown 
us that the only possible means of pardon is by justifi- 
cation through Jesus Christ. Justification involves the 
pardon of our past record. Before we believed, the 
law condemned us, and treated us as guilty. After we 
believe it treats us as innocent. It also involves the 
remission of our sins and the absolving of guilt and 
punishment. We are held innocent as though we had 
never sinned. Thus the apostle makes plain what jus- 
tification does for us. 

IV. Paul’s doctrine of regeneration. As he has 
shown man to be degenerate in his moral nature, he has 
also shown the absolute necessity for man to be regen- 
erated. Here we meet with that inexorable law of our 
Lord Jesus, “Ye must be born again,” “except a grain 
of corn fall into the ground and die it abideth alone.” 

Man in his degenerate state is said to be “dead in 
trespasses and in sin” ; that is, spiritually dead ; hence, 
wanting in that living germ, the vital principal of growth. 

We might as well plant brickbats and expect them 
to produce a crop of potatoes as to expect divine life, 
a Christ-life, in a word, a Christian life, from an unre- 
generated man. The divine fiat is, “Ye must be born 
again.” Through the eternal law of generation this 
earth is peopled, through the eternal law of regeneration 
heaven is to be peopled. Jesus has so declared it, 
“Except a man be born again he can not enter the king- 
dom of heaven.” “From death to life” is the law of 
eternal progress. Regeneration involves the renewing 
of our nature, the impartation of divine life. 

The apostle makes very plain what regeneration 


86 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


does for us. He says, “The Spirit itself beareth 
witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” 
Spirit witnessing with spirit. That God consciousness 
that we are the “sons of God,” that “we have passed 
from death unto life,” the Spirit of God dwelling in us, 
“Christ in you the hope of glory” is the final test. 

To be regenerated means to be a “new crea- 
ture,” a “new creation,” a “new nature,” a “new name,” 
a “new man.” “Therefore if any man [Jew or Gentile] 
be in Christ, he is a new creature : old things are passed 
away; behold, all things are become new” (II Cor. 
5: 17). To be thus saved is to live in a new sphere of 
life ; a well ordered, successful Christ-life. The “new 
creature,” the new life, is a sensitive responsiveness to 
the life of Christ. We are born into divine conditions 
that correspond with God. 

In regeneration we get rid of our sinning. 
“Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.” But 
Paul has also said, “Sin shall not have dominion over 
you.” Paul’s argument in the sixth chapter of Romans 
is that if we have been made “new creatures,” “we also 
should walk in newness of life.” 

He further shows that our bodies are not to be 
used “as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin,” but 
are to be used “as instruments of righteousness unto 
God.” Let us face the issue like men. No man with 
bad intentions can be a Christian; he who sins has had 
intentions ; therefore, he who has bad intentions is not 
a Christian. Again, Paul says, “If ye then be risen with 
Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ 
sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on 
things above, not on things on the earth, for ye are dead, 
and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Paul makes a 
marked distinction between Christians and mere pro- 
fessors of religion. He makes the difference therein 


paui/s method of teaching holiness 87 

thus : “What fellowship hath righteousness with un- 
righteousness, and what communion hath light with 
darkness ?” “Come out from among them and be ye 
separate/' 

Paul’s doctrine of the “new creature,” “new life,” 
frees us from the “carnal life.” Hear him: “For the 
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me 
free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2). To sin 
involves guilt, but Paul says, “There is therefore now no 
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” The 
only logical conclusion, if we accept the apostle’s prop- 
osition, is that those in Christ have gotten rid of the 
sinning life; and are walking after the blessed Holy 
Spirit. His proposition is, “The law of life in Christ 
Jesus” frees us “from the law of sin and death.” By 
no right rule of reasoning or legitimate mode of the in- 
terpretation of Scripture, or on any principle of sound 
philosophy, can it be proved that Christians in any state 
of grace continue to sin. 

V. We come now to consider Paul’s doctrine of holi- 
ness or entire sanctification. He keeps in view the one 
supreme end, namely, the utter destruction of sin. He 
sees with open, clear vision that God’s proposition or 
purpose in the plan of salvation is that the ultimate goal 
is to rid man of sin and raise him to union and commun- 
ion with Deity. He sees that man is not only to be 
made a “new man,” but that he is to be totally trans- 
formed into the image of Christ. But in order to do 
this he sees that man must be rid of the “sin principle,” 
“carnal mind,” the moral “corrupt nature,” “inbred 
sin,” “inherent depravity.” Let us not lose sight of 
Paul’s method of getting rid of this principle of sin or 
moral corruption: 

1. He proposes the process of crucifixion. Hear 
him: “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified \p'th 


88 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


him [Christ], that the body of sin might be destroyed.” 
Note the end for which “our old man is crucified,” 
“that the body of sin might be destroyed.” Here the 
apostle teaches the truest philosophy ever spoken, “Die 
to live.” Jesus taught it as an eternal law in the uni- 
verse. “Except a grain of corn fall into the ground, and 
die, it abideth alone.” From “death unto life” is the 
true science of life. Just as it is eternally true that a 
stone will sink and a cork float, when the “old man,” 
“the body of sin,” is crucified in us we die to sin, die 
to the world, to all its customs, maxims, laws, and rise 
into the more abundant life. This death unto sin was 
Paul’s experience: “I am crucified with Christ; neverthe- 
less I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” 

This death process is the keynote to the more 
abundant life. In justification we get life; in entire 
sanctification we get the more abundant life. “I come,” 
says Jesus, “that ye might have life; and that ye might 
have it more abundantly.” The whole difference of 
Paul’s method of getting rid of sin and the majority 
of theologians is this: Paul worked from the center, 
they from the circumference; he sought the destruction 
of the “carnal mind,” they seek to subjugate it. 

St. Paul has no set phrases in teaching the doctrine 
of holiness, but each phraseology harmonizes essen- 
tially the one supreme object, namely, the total destruc- 
tion of the depravity of the heart. We may best illus- 
trate the doctrine of entire sanctification by Paul’s 
method of teaching young converts the doctrine of holi- 
ness. We assume upon the authority of Paul that entire 
sanctification should be sought immediately after justifi- 
cation, that the new-born soul might continue to be 
justified. 

His first epistle to the Thessalonians is proof of this 
fact. We read, “And the very God of peace sanctify 


Paul's method of teaching holiness 89 

you wholly/' “God hath not called us unto uncleanness, 
but unto holiness/' “Faithful is he that calleth you who 
also will do it." This admonition to entire sanctification 
is not to backsliders nor sinners, but to young converts 
who had been converted about six months. Let us note 
the phrase “sanctify you wholly." It involves the work 
of sanctification as already begun in their heart, but had 
not been completed or perfected. It also involves the 
complete or perfect consummation of the work of sanc- 
tification of our whole being, “body, soul and spirit," 
perfect heart purity, and holiness of life. It positively 
teaches the second work of grace. This is no theory, 
but a fact. Note the experience of these Thessalonian 
brethren. In Acts 17 we note their conversion; in First 
Thessalonians we note their experience as Christians. 
They had “work of faith," “labor of love," “patience of 
hope in our Lord Jesus," they were “followers of the 
Lord," “having received the word in much affliction, 
with joy of the Holy Ghost," were “examples to all that 
believe." Are not these some of the marks or chief 
characteristics of a Christian? Yet the apostle con- 
cludes his epistle by admonishing the Christians to be 
wholly sanctified. It is as clear as a sunbeam that two 
states of grace are here taught by St. Paul, justifica- 
tion and entire sanctification, and that each state of 
grace is obtainable in this life. 

2. Paul taught that we were to be sanctified through 
the process of transformation. “Be ye transformed by the 
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that 
good> and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Rom. 12:2). 
By this process of transformation we are changed from 
our moral, corrupt, abnormal condition into that good 
and “perfect will of God," which involves the total destruc- 
tion of the sinful nature, and produces in us perfect love, 
a pure heart, and restoration of man to normal moral con- 


90 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


ditions. The definition of two words which bear directly 
on this point may help us to a better understanding of this 
question. “Metamorphosis” is a noun and means “a change 
of form,” and metamorphose means “to transform.” The 
apostle here means to say that we are to be metamorphosed 
into the same “good” and “perfect” moral quality as that 
of God; a sameness in kind, not in quantity. This par- 
ticular point we shall treat more fully under another propo- 
sition. 

3. The apostle teaches the doctrine of holiness by 
conformity of type. He makes our character and con- 
duct to measure up to the undimmed luster of priceless 
purity — the richest crown- jewel in the kingdom of God. 
He says, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did 
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son” 
(Rom. 8:29). Here is the glowing theme of the ages, 
“In our image and after our likeness.” The destined hour 
for man’s return to his original place in the divine family 
has at last arrived, and his approaching footsteps are 
heard upon the threshold of Paradise. 

The chief end proposed in the text is that all the 
sons of Adam might be conformed to the image of God’s 
Son. The terms of admission and retention of privilege 
in the divine family is in His image. 

1. This scripture holds communication with the 
past, and reveals that man lost his original position in 
the scale of creation. Man in his original state was in 
the image of God. This he lost in the fall. 

2. It also shows the contemplative promised results 
in the execution of the plan of salvation, viz., man re-made 
in the image of God is the redeeming purpose of the triune 
God. 

Every artist plans in reference to some end. It is 
not less true in God’s plan of human redemption. Every- 
thing is planned with the utmost exactness of infinite wis- 


PAUL'S METHOD OF TEACHING HOLINESS 9I 

dom for the accomplishment of one specific end, namely, 
the restoration of man to that image and likeness of God 
which he has lost. His plan is like His own mind, taking 
into account the most minute circumstances and the most 
remote contingencies which surrounded the desperateness 
of our case. He made no mistake. He can make no fail- 
ure. All is absolutely safe, and can be trusted and relied 
upon. According to fixed laws in harmony with His 
definite plan, when positively applied, its producing re- 
sults must be the pardon of guilt, the regenerat- 
ing of our natures, the cleansing of the soul from 
all moral defilement, thus restoring man to the 
divine image. God prosecutes His plan along a defin- 
ite line; and in harmonious order with Himself, having in 
view the one determining end, namely, the restoration of 
man to His image. The imperative demand is a “new 
creation,” “after the image of Him that created man.” 
“In our image, after our likeness” was the prearranged, 
predetermined plan of the blessed Holy Trinity. “Let us 
make man in our image, after our likeness.” In new- 
making or remaking man, he must not be different from 
the original pattern. The divine architect and builder forms 
and fashions the “new man” after the original pattern. 
And to this very determination does the apostle refer, “And 
that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in 
righteousness and true holiness” (Eph. 4:24). And in 
Col. 3 : 10, “And have put on the new man, which is re- 
newed in knowledge after the image of him that created 
him.” Here God proposes the same identical model in 
new-making or remaking man as He did when He first 
made man. 

Entire sanctification restores man to the perfect like- 
ness of Christ. To assert that God can not, and will not, 
remake us in His own image is a speculation little less than 
atheism. 


92 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

An assertion proves nothing, simply to deny or affirm. 
Without some underlying, fundamental principles as an 
accepted rule of judging we can never rid ourselves of 
confusion, error, or falsehood. But the truth will 
stand the test. There is a class who have written quite 
extensively against the doctrine we here propose; but they 
have discussed the subject without basic facts, or any 
standard of truth. Such persons are not safe thinkers 
for the people on so grave a subject as that of human 
destiny. They who assert that God cannot or does not 
save from the guilt of sin, the love of sin, and the power 
of sin, and the very inbeing of sin, preach a “gospel of 
dirt/’ It is a bad philosophy and is utterly destitute of 
proof. As we have asserted, the Bible account of the 
creation of man shows that God found a model in Himself. 

Dr. Cuyler says, “When man is to be created, the 
godhead seems to make a solemn pause, retires into the 
recesses of His own tranquility, looks for a model, and 
finds it in Himself.” What grandeur and spotless perfec- 
tion. The New Testament reveals to us the fact that 
the “new-made” man in the image of God is God’s ideal 
redeemed man. Man remade in the image of God is the 
masterful piece of workmanship of our Lord and Savior 
Jesus Christ. The whole ministry of the incarnate Son 
of God was to renew man in His image. 

If we accept St. Paul’s teaching on this question, by 
a course of analogical reasoning we are forced to con- 
clude that God’s supreme object in redemption is to res- 
tore man to that original image and likeness in which he 
was created. Then, too, as we go searchingly through 
the epistles of Paul we find this theme of transformation 
into the image of Christ is one of his marked doctrines. 
Let us willingly, eagerly, patiently, and prayerfully open 
our ears to hear, and apply our intellect to understand, 
this glorious subject. 


Paul's method of teaching holiness 93 

This Christlikeness is the normal condition of the 
Christian. It is the chief characteristic of the stature 
of the perfect man. We have not finished our task, we 
have not fulfilled the end for which God created us, 
till Christ be formed in us.” To be conformed to the 
image of the Son is the chief object of the manifestation 
of the Son of God on earth. 

God predetermined that the sons of Adam should be 
transformed into the ineffable image of His Son. “For 
whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be 
conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:29). We 
understand the apostle to mean that our character and 
life are to correspond to the character and life of Christ. 
We are not raised to the normal life until the image of 
Christ is formed in us. To pause here where we should 
begin is to retrograde where we should advance into 
the Christlike nature in its fullest development. 

The apostle Paul constantly refers us to the law 
of conformity to type that our final Christian perfection 
may be secured. The inward nature must be perfectly 
cleansed and developed according to its type (Christ), 
until consummation of oneness with Christ is reached. 
We meet with this same declaration or phrase in II Cor. 
3 : 18, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass 
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image 
from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 
The apostle in the context speaks of the spiritual ignor- 
ance as a “vail upon their heart,” but when they shall 
turn to the Lord this vail or ignorance shall be taken 
away. Then, “We all, with open face beholding as in a 
glass the glory of the Lord, shall be changed into the 
same image.” The character and life of Christ is hereby 
a beautiful simile represented as a perfect looking- 
glass, on whose even surface there are no cracks or im- 
perfections causing rays of light to make an untrue figure 


94 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


or image of the object put before it. The vision is clear 
and distinct. “The glory of the Lord.’’ That is, we 
with open, clear, distinct vision see the immaculate 
purity of the Son of God as our type-character, as our 
type-life. In beholding we “are changed into the same 
image.” That is, our moral nature is changed and made 
like the nature of Jesus Christ. If there is any sig- 
nificance to be attached to this Scripture it means that 
we are to be holy as He is holy and pure as He is pure. 
There is nothing so invisible to the carnally minded as 
the transparent character and beautiful life of Christ. 
And there is nothing so clear and so truly conscious to 
the spiritually minded as with open face beholding as in 
a glass the beauty and glory and grandeur of Jesus 
Christ, our adorable Lord and Savior. 

What we must do in order to be conformed to 
the image of Christ. The recognition of the ideal Christ 
is the first step in the direction of conformity to the 
image of Christ. Mere man ideals of Christ fall infinitely 
short of the ideal Christ. I never have seen a picture of 
Christ that has met my ideal of the New Testament 
Christ. The artist’s brush has always left its imperfect 
touch. But the face of Jesus has lost none of its come- 
liness, nor His person its spotless purity, in the New 
Testament. There “we all with open face, beholding as 
in a glass the glory of the Lord,” see Jesus Christ. As 
we look into a mirror and study our form, color, sym- 
metry, etc., so we may look into and study the record 
made in the gospel respecting Jesus Christ and the doc- 
trines taught by Him and the apostles, if we would be 
conformed to the image of Christ. 

This conformity to the image of Christ is a definite 
process. “Until Christ be formed in you.” To seek to 
be conformed to the image of Christ is not a vague effort 
after the Christlikeness. It is not an ill-defined, im- 


Paul's method of teaching holiness 95 

aginary struggle, for an ill-defined, imaginery end. An 
effortless adoration for the incarnate Son of God might 
do for angels, but never for the deep needs of the human 
soul. The soul can not live in the mere realm of ideals ; 
it must have something tangible. We are not to live 
simply in the contemplative life of Christ, but in the 
active; nor simply in the rapture, but in the reality, of 
His life. “Let this mind be in you which was also in 
Christ Jesus.” Drummond says, “The incarnation is the 
life revealing the type. But why should God be re- 
vealed? Why, indeed, for man? Why, but that behold- 
ing as in a glass the glory of the only begotten we should 
be changed into the same image.” Christ is the mirror 
that reflects His character; and if we assume a proper 
attitude toward Him we shall be changed into the same 
image. 

The thoroughness of this moral transformation may 
be better understood by illustration taken from nature. 
In the family of insects we have one class called papil- 
ionidae. From its egg is hatched another insect, which 
in its growth develops a larva commonly called cater- 
pillar. It is a very loathsome form of insect. Its sole 
employment is to devour food. We instinctively shrink 
from it with disgust, because its aspect is so hideous and 
loathsome. In its process of transformation it seeks a 
place of concealment, ceases to eat any food. In this 
state of metamorphosis or changing form the larva or 
caterpillar is changed into the chrysalis, and in this 
chrysalis state it has woven its shroud, and died. Then it 
resurrected into a newness of life, is wholly unlike that 
of the caterpillar. In its habits we see cleanliness, in its 
body we see beauty, on its wings we see the gorgeous 
colors of the rainbow. It* has arisen into a new and 
higher sphere of life. Thus the hideous, loathsome, 
groveling caterpillar is metamorphosed into a beautiful 


9 6 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


butterfly. Is it possible that the beautiful butterfly so 
much admired by all and preserved with such carefulness 
in the cabinets of the naturalists came from the hideous, 
hairy caterpillar? Yes, that is where it came from, and 
in this is a gracious lesson of the transformation of 
character. The larva in its nature and transformation is 
strictly analogous to the nature of man, and the trans- 
formation into the image of Christ. Our moral degrada- 
tion is not very glorious. We naturally like to think of 
ourselves as the “beautiful butterfly,” but never as the 
“hideous caterpillar.” Nevertheless, man’s whole being 
has been so prostituted to the service of the devil and 
corrupted by sin that he is a loathsome, polluted, cor- 
rupt creature, and needs to submit himself to the moral 
process of metamorphosis. We, too, must die like the 
larva; die to sin, die to self, die to the world, die to all 
its customs, maxims, laws. “Let me die” must be the 
plaintive cry of the soul. We may by faith in Jesus 
Christ be changed in an instant, yes, changed into the 
image of Christ, metamorphosed by the power of the 
Holy Spirit into the image of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, 
and rise into the brighter spiritual life, into the more 
abundant life, into a more glorious life, into a more 
satisfactory life, into a more useful life. 

Christ has set the keynote for character and conduct. 
The law of eternal necessity binds us to be changed into 
the same image. Christ demands it, and our soul de- 
mands it, and the new kingdom demands it. It furnishes 
the only valid reason why we should live in the presence 
of infinite holiness, and the holy angels, and the blood- 
washed. The one thing needful is that the soul be 
attuned to the keynote, Christ. He is the great underly- 
ing harmony of the human race. Sin is discord, always 
jangling and out of tune. What the soul needs is to 
be brought into tune; attuned to Christ who gives each 


paui/s method of teaching holiness 97 

soul its light place in life. The soul attuned to Christ 
has its divine symphony of life. The life of Christ 
vibrates a pleasant harmony at every touch. The pure 
in heart and Christ are in accord. The pure in heart in 
the stern battle of life will vibrate pleasant harmonies. 
The life of those who are not attuned to Christ is as 
sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 



holiness god's choice for the moral condition of man 


CHAPTER IX 

This subject correctly pursued will guide us into 
the sublimest walks of eternal association with all that 
is pure and blessed. 

There is an artificial philosophy or mere word- 
philosophy that is intellectual drudgery. But the study 
of facts and the dear Old Bible tends to wisdom and 
points with undeviating index to pure and undefiled 
religion whose ways are pleasantness and all her paths 
are peace. There are no hills like the hills of Zion; there 
are no songs like the songs of Israel ; there are no joys 
like the joys of the blood-washed pilgrims. The deep 
need of this old world is the plain, unvarnished truth 
practically exemplified in every-day life. 

Reader, you do not need a telescope and an her- 
barium and a laboratory and a library to understand the 
facts of life, and to know God, whom to know aright is 
life everlasting. 

The field of the most important facts lies open to 
us in the question before us. Let us not be carried away 
with the unpardonable croaking philosophies of a totter- 
ing age. The most of the philosophies of every age has 
fixed upon it the stamp of folly. But the prophets, Christ, 
and the apostles have not only given us a better philoso- 
phy, but facts in plain human language; and to under- 
stand their words we need no succession of authorized 
scholarship as interpreters. 

99 


IOO 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


Having premised this much we return to our propo- 
sition that holiness is God’s choice for the moral condi- 
tion of man. This proposition first involves the value 
of the origin of our ancestry. After all the researches 
of physiologists, anatomists, and mental and moral phi- 
losophers, how very little knowledge has been given us 
relative to the origin and spiritual nature of man and 
his relation to God and eternity. 

There are two conflicting theories relative to the 
origin of man. One theory brings him up from the 
brute, the other, downward from God. I shall not waste 
any valuable time in refuting the first theory, for the 
reason wisdom should lead us not to attempt to dis- 
prove what no man has ever yet proved or will prove. 
It is bad philosophy and is utterly destitute of proof. 
Carlyle calls it the “Gospel of dirt.” The Bible narrative 
of man’s creation says “The Spirit of God hath made me, 
and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life” 
(Job 33:4). “God created man in his own image, in the 
image of God created he him” (Gen. 1 127). This is the 
Bible account of our ancestry. In the creation of man 
God finds a model in Himself. So God said, “Let us 
make man in our image, after our likeness.” So “God 
created man in his own image, in the image of God 
created he him ; male and female created he them.” 
Doctor Cuyler says, “When man is to be created the God- 
head seems to make a solemn pause, retires into the 
recesses of His own tranquility, looks for a model, and 
finds it in Himself.” 

The creative hand of the Almighty models man 
after His own image. Man comes from God’s mold bear- 
ing the express image of his Author. This is God’s ideal 
man discovered, revealing to us the loftiest specimen 
and the value of manhood. Grandeur and spotless per- 
fection, “the finest fruit earth holds up to its maker is 


HOLINESS GOD'S CHOICE FOR MAN 


IOI 


man.” Man the very image of God’s substance, the 
masterful piece of workmanship of the Almighty, the 
very crown of creation. “Had not man been, all else 
need not have been.” He is the most marvelous earth 
being. The Psalmist gazing into man’s mysterious being 
feels himself impelled to admiringly exclaim, “What is 
man?” The immeasurable depths and duration of man’s 
spiritual nature and his relation to God and eternity can 
be fully appreciated only under the searchlight of God’s 
Word. 

Here then comes the startling statement, which 
arises out of the mysterious and stupendous work of the 
Almighty in the creation of man. 

I. The Bible story of creation not only informs 
us that man is the masterful piece of workmanship of 
the Almighty, but also that holiness is God’s choice for 
the moral condition of man. God said, “Let us make 
man in our image, after our likeness,” “So God created 
man in his own image, in the image of God created he 
him; male and female created he them” (Gen. 1 126, 27). 
Several facts must be accounted for which necessarily 
are contained in this narrative of the creation of man. 

1. The “Missing link” and the blundering “logical 
gap” in the hypothesis of evolution relative to the origin 
of man is bridged over. Mr. Spencer, Huxley, and others 
of the same school who have come after them have found 
no intelligent answer, but Moses has given us the key to 
the whole situation. He gives us the facts of man’s 
origin in its last analysis. It is both rational and rev- 
erent. We say with emphasis that this is the supreme 
truth. Let us therefore grasp it with a clear complete- 
ness of conviction, and hold trustfully to it. It is the 
adequate truth that opens to our soul the way and the life. 

2. The Bible account asserts the declared purpose 
of God in fixing the standard of moral character for 


102 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


man. This standard is not man’s, but God’s choice. It 
is no new doctrine. It did not originate with any eccle- 
siastical denomination. It was before there was either 
Jew or Gentile creed. 

Holiness is from the beginning. It is a fixed law 
among all created intelligences. It is the great cardinal 
doctrine of Christianity. Holiness is not only recapitu- 
lated in the Scriptures, but is the central theme of the 
Bible. 

3. It asserts God’s predetermined purpose and 
choice for man’s moral character. 

4. The positive assertion that the (model) or 
standard for man’s moral character was God Himself — 
“In our image.” 

5. Infinite intelligence can have no changing 
scheme. Therefore God’s purpose in making choice of 
holiness for the moral condition of man must necessarily 
be for all mankind and for all time. 

6. God’s motive for making man holy was that he 
might share in His nature, and thus be eternally happy. 

7. God is solicitous of man’s happiness, and in 
order to this a holy character is a necessary medium 
through which God is to make man happy. Hence if man 
be permanently happy he must be constantly holy. The 
presence of infinite holiness would be a veritable hell to 
an unholy person. If we would be happy with God we 
must be in moral nature or character like God. 

8. That the divine purpose that man should be holy 
is coeval with God’s creative plan, is a fact. “Let us make 
man in our image.” 

9. We note the glory of the completeness of man’s 
character. “So God created man in His own image.” 
This is proof that there was nothing that could thwart 
God’s purpose and choice. Man’s moral character is 
made according to the divine choice and immutable pur- 


HOLINESS GOD'S CHOICE FOR MAN IO3 

pose — in the “image of God.” Does it not necessarily 
follow as a logical fact that He who in the beginning 
madd man holy can also remake man holy? 

10. God’s choice must necessarily be the very best 
choice that it was possible for infinite intelligence to 
make. He must have known that a holy character for 
man is necessarily of infinite value to man — else He 
would not have made man holy. God must have known 
that a holy character was indispensable to the well-being 
of man. If God had not made man holy His work could 
not have been well done. 

11. The result of God’s work must be satisfactory. 
In order to this, His work must be suitable to the law 
of His being, and the work He does. Man could not have 
been a normal being had he not been made holy. Sin has 
made man abnormal, and nothing less than the possession 
of a holy character will make him normal. 

The fact remains that whatever be the opposing 
force, that whatever moral quality was essential for the 
well-being and highest good of man, and for the glory 
of God at any time, must be during the whole course of 
man’s existence whether it be in time or eternity. 

We now come to consider 

II. The Bible story of the fall of man. This in- 
volves the sad story of sin. We have carefully discussed 
the doctrine of sin in another chapter, so need not con- 
sider it here. Suffice it to say we are authoritively in- 
formed that man lost that state of holiness in which he 
was originally created. He disobeyed God, hence the 
disastrous consequences. (Cf. Gen. 3:1-14.) 

1. The fall of man involves no change in God’s im- 
mutable purpose concerning man’s moral status. For 
God to change His purpose and plan concerning man is 
a moral impossibility, for the reason that He would first 
have to change the administration and nature of His 


104 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


moral government, and second, reconstruct man on a 
moral scale in keeping with the change of that govern- 
ment. 

2. If God does not now require that man be holy it 
would compel Him to be changing His original design 
and purpose concerning man’s moral status and forming 
new schemes and purposes as to man’s moral condition. 
Such an assumption is disastrous indeed as well as un- 
scriptural. The infinite intelligence of an all-wise God 
and His immutability will not admit of such an assump- 
tion. 

This leads us to consider the redeeming purpose of 
God. 

3. The Bible story of redemption informs us that 
God proposes to restore man to that original state of 
righteousness and true holiness he lost in the fall, thus 
carrying out His original purpose. Less than salvation 
from sin, and the full recovery to that state of holiness 
in which man was originally created could not have en- 
tered into the plan of human redemption. If God wills 
to save man at all, in the very nature of the case He 
must save him from that state of sin into which he had 
fallen, and restore him to that state of holiness he lost 
in the fall. Infinite intelligence devised the scheme of 
redemption — hence it must necessarily, by virtue of a 
law of its own, be adequate to restore man to that god- 
likeness in which he was originally created. 

The New Testament amply supports this view. 
Hear St. Paul, “And that ye put on the new man, which 
after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” 
(Eph. 4:24). Here God is chosen as the pattern from 
which man in the plan of redemption is to be formed. 
The “New creation” is into a state of “righteousness and 
true holiness.” 

This new creation demands a high standard of 


HOLINESS GOD'S CHOICE FOR MAN 105 

character and practice, thoroughly conforming to the 
image of God, namely, purity of heart and of life, and 
conformity to the image of Christ, who is the image of 
the invisible God. 

Note in the remaking of man, in his redemption from 
sin, that there is to be a creation of a “new man,” and 
that he is to be conformed to the divine creation into a 
state of “righteousness and holiness.” The term “after 
God” is equivalent to “after the image of him that 
created him” (Col. 3:10). No one is exempt from this 
standard of character and rule of living. 

The blessed fact of the original choice of God for the 
moral condition and state of holiness in which man was 
created is pointed out. That is according to St. Paul's 
statement. God makes choice of Himself as the model 
or pattern after which man is to be remade. This fact 
he expressly states in Col. 3:10, “And have put on the 
new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image 
of him that created him.” 

Here are two facts made plain: First, that God in 
the beginning made man in His image ; and second, that 
the new-made man is remade in the same original like- 
ness, namely, in the “image of God.” Could any thing 
be more explicit? 

Note another important fact, namely, the term “re- 
newed.” It means “to be reproduced,” “to become new 
again,” “to make new again,” “to restore to the original 
state.” I claim without fear of a successful contradic- 
tion that the Apostle Paul here teaches that man is to 
be restored to the original state of holiness in which he 
was created. 

But here comes in another startling fact which arises 
out of God’s pre-arranged plan to recover man to the 
divine image, or image of the Son of God. Hear 
St. Paul again: “For whom he did foreknow, he also 


io6 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son” 
(Rom. 8:29). What are the facts? First, God has made 
choice of His Son Jesus Christ as the prototype or 
model Son in the divine family after which all the sons 
of God are to be fashioned. Second, the condition of son- 
ship in the divine family and the retention of its rights 
and privileges is in conformity “to the image of His Son.” 

In the redemption or the remaking of men if he be 
not restored to the image of Christ it would vitiate the 
whole purpose of God concerning both his creation and 
redemption. In the remaking of man a common man 
cannot be tolerated after so uncommon a beginning. 
The last man must not be less than the first. By virtue 
of a law of God’s own being and man’s deep need He must 
raise man up to that level from which he fell. That is, 
I mean to say, that by an inexorable law of God in the 
remaking or restoring of man, if He does not reproduce 
in man that original image of Himself, He has chosen 
a most perilous course, a course which must break 
down somewhere. For this very reason God has re- 
verted to His original purpose and model in the recon- 
struction of man. And to this very determination does 
the following Scripture refer: “And that ye put on the 
new man, which after God is created in righteousness 
and true holiness” (Eph. 4:24). 

The apostle John lays great stress on Christ as the 
standard for man’s moral condition. Hear him : “And 
every man that hath this hope in him” — seeing Jesus — 
“purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (I John 3:3). 
“As he is, so are we in this world” (I John 4:17). The 
purity of Christ is the pattern of ours. Holiness like 
unto that of Christ is the crucial test, “to be pure as he 
is pure.” Morally like Him. “No sin stains are so deep 
that the precious blood of Jesus cannot cleanse.” “The 
blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.” 


HOLINESS GOD'S CHOICE FOR MAN I07 

The same divine life-breathing power that first 
created man must descend on man’s dark sinful heart, 
and again breathe divine life into his soul. Our Savior 
announced the necessity of this spiritual change, the new 
birth (cf. John 3:5-8). Man’s inmost self needs renewal, 
and his moral pollution or defilement needs cleansing. 

The doctrine of moral pollution, and man’s need of 
purification is the deepest teaching of the Old and of the 
New Testament. He who has a sense of the foul im- 
purity of his heart and the defilement of sin will have a 
desire for God’s likeness. It has not ceased to be true 
that “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all 
sin.” 

We must submit to this truth, namely, that the 
plan of human redemption is to free man from sin. 
What God plans must be as holy as it is wise, and as 
necessary as it is holy. There are several fundamental 
facts that enter into the plan of human redemption, which 
have acquired the power of incontrovertible axioms. 

(1) That the infinite mercy of God suggested the plan. 

(2) The wisdom of God which cannot err found out the 
plan. (3) The holiness of God required it. (4) It was 
indispensably necessary for the salvation of man. (5) His 
omnipotence executes the plan. These propositions all 
meet in the plan of salvation. God out of His own in- 
nate goodness proposed to save us. The plan of salvation 
is out of God’s bountiful goodness. It expresses God’s 
infinite mercy in dealing with us. Man eats the bitter bud 
of sin ; but God in mercy offers to him the luscious fruit 
of righteousness. God’s own constraining love impelled 
Him to save us. 

Once more: Every artist plans in reference to some 
end. That is not less true in God’s plan of human redemp- 
tion. Everything is planned with the utmost exactness 
of infinite wisdom for the accomplishment of one specific 


108 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

end, namely, to restore man to that image and likeness 
of God which he has lost. His plan is like His own 
mind taking into account the most minute circumstances 
and the most remote contingencies which surround the 
desperateness of our case. He can make no mistake? 
He can make no failure. All is absolutely safe, and can 
be trusted and relied upon. According to fixed laws, 
in harmony with this definite plan when positively ap- 
plied, its producing results must be the pardon of guilt 
and the restoration to the divine image. God prosecutes 
His plan along definite lines, and in a harmonious order 
with Himself, having in view the one determining end, 
namely, the restoration of man to His image. The im- 
perative demand is a new creation after the image of Him 
that created man. “In our image, after our likeness” was 
the prearranged and pre-determined plan of the blessed 
Holy Trinity. (Cf. Rom. 8:29.) '‘Let us make man in 
our image, after our likeness.” In new making or re- 
making man he must not be different from the original 
pattern. It is the same Divine Artisan’s workshop full 
of material, and He with no less skill and economy in 
remaking the “new man” than in making man in the 
beginning, consequently the re-made man must bear the 
divine marks of the orderly and holy and perfect nature 
as did the first man in the beginning. The Divine Archi- 
tect and Builder forms and fashions the “new man” after 
the original pattern — Himself. 

The fundamental purpose of the death and shed 
blood of Jesus is to recover men from the guilt, and 
power, and love, and inbeing of sin. The climax of God’s 
crowning work in redemption is to restore man to the 
divine image. To assert that God cannot nor will not 
remake us in His own image is a speculation little less 
than atheism. (Read Rom. 8:29.) 

That the reader may be assured that my position on 


HOLINESS GOD'S CHOICE FOR MAN 


109 


this question is in perfect harmony with the most learned, 
I quote the opinion of the celebrated Dr. Adam Clarke, 
who wrote as one having authority. Discussing the sub- 
ject of entire sanctification, he says: 

This perfection is the restoration of man to the state of holiness 
from which he fell, by creating him anew in Christ Jesus, and 
restoring to him that image and likeness of God which he has 
lost. A higher meaning than this it cannot have; a lower mean- 
ing it must not have. God made man in that degree of perfection 
which was pleasing to His own infinite wisdom and goodness. 
Sin defaced this divine image; Jesus came to restore it. Sin must 
have no triumph; and the Redeemer of mankind must have His 
glory. But if man be not perfectly saved from all sin, sin does 
triumph, and Satan exult, because they have done a mischief that 
Christ either cannot or will not remove. To say He cannot 
would be shocking blasphemy against the infinite power and dignity 
of the great Creator; to say He will not, would be equally such 
against the infinite benevolence of holiness of His nature. All 
sin, whether in power, guilt, or defilement, is the work of the 
devil; and He, Jesus, came to destroy the work of the devil; 
and as all unrighteousness is sin, so His blood cleanseth from all 
sin, because it cleanseth from all unrighteousness. 

The word “perfection,” in reference to any person or thing, 
signifies that such person or thing is complete or finished; that it 
has nothing redundant, and is in nothing defective. And hence 
that observation of a learned civilian is at once both correct and 
illustrative, namely, “We count those things perfect which want 
nothing requisite for the end whereto they were instituted.” 
And to be perfect often signifies “to be blameless, clear, irre- 
proachable”; and, according to the above definition of Hooker, 
a man may be said to be perfect who answers the end for which 
God made him; and as God requires every man to love Him 
with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and his neighbor as 
himself, then he is a perfect man that does so; he answers the 
end for which God made him. 

The whole design of God was to restore man to His image, 
and raise him from the ruins of his fall ; in a word, to make him 
perfect; to blot out all his sins, purify his soul, and fill him with 
holiness; so that no unholy temper, evil desire, or impure affec- 
tion or passion shall either lodge, or have any being within him; 
this and this only is true religion, or Christian perfection; and a 


no 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


less salvation than this would be dishonorable to the sacrifice of 
Christ and the operation of the Holy Ghost; and would be as un- 
worthy of the appellation of “Christianity,” as it would be of that 
of “holiness or perfection.” They who ridicule this are scoffers 
at the word of God; many of them totally irreligious men, sitting 
in the seat of the scornful. They who deny it deny the whole 
scope and design of divine revelation and the mission of Jesus 
Christ. And they who preach an opposite doctrine are either 
speculative Antinomians, or pleaders of Baal. 

When St. Paul says he “warns every man, and teaches every 
man in all wisdom, that he may present every man perfect in 
Christ Jesus,” he must mean something. What then is this some- 
thing? It must mean “that holiness without which none shall 
see the Lord.” Call it what name we please, it must imply the 
pardon of all transgression, and the removal of the whole body 
of sin and death; for this must take place before we can be like 
Him, and see Him as He is, in the effulgence of His own glory. 
This fitness, then, to appear before God, and thorough prepara- 
tion for eternal Glory, is what I plead for, pray for, and heartily 
recommend to all true believers, under the name of Christian 
perfection. 

As there is no end to the merits of Christ incarnated and 
crucified; no bounds to the mercy and love of God; no let or 
hindrance to the almighty energy and sanctifying influence of 
the Holy Spirit; no limits to the improvability of the human soul; 
so there can be no bounds to the saving influence which God will 
dispense to the heart of every genuine believer. We may ask 
and receive, and our joy shall be full. Well may we bless and 
praise God, “who has called us into such a state of salvation,” a 
state in which we may be thus saved ; and, by the grace of that 
state, continue in the same to the end of our lives.” 

Again, Dr. Clarke in speaking of our being created 
in God’s image (moral likeness) says, 

“God made man in his own image, and in his own likeness/* 
Now this must have been what is termed “the moral image of 
God”; for it cannot be expounded of any formal image or like- 
ness of that infinite Spirit; and from St. Paul, Col. 3: 10 and 
Eph. 4, 24, we learn that this image consisted in knowledge, 
righteousness, and true holiness (cf. Christian Theology). 

The foregoing argument is a standing and impreg- 
nable proof that holiness is God’s choice for the moral 


HOLINESS GOD'S CHOICE FOR MAN 


IIIi 


condition of man, and that he is to be thus saved in this 
life if he would gain eternal life. 

“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, 
and to present you faultless before the presence of his 
glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our 
Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both 
now and ever. Amen” (Jude 24, 25). 


1. We have supported our proposition by clearly de- 
fined truth, and by the Scriptures. 

2. We have proved by divine assertions that holi- 
ness was the choice of God for the moral condition of 
man from the beginning. 

3. We have further shown that God's own know- 
ledge of His own plan of salvation must necessarily be 
adequate to redeem man from his fallen state into a 
state of holiness. 

4. We have also shown that in the plan of redemp- 
tion, in the re-making or new-making of man he is re- 
made in the “image of God.” All of which is proof that 
God's original choice for the moral condition of man is 
a fixed purpose. 

These facts cannot be divorced from God’s plan of 
salvation in its practical relation and purpose to serve 
some speculative purpose or end. 








CHAPTER X 


HOLINESS ATTAINABLE 

Truth and an intelligent understanding, and the cor- 
rect application of the truth are essential to the correct 
solution of any subject. Then, too, an honest mind 
implies candor, and a disposition to know and to obey 
all truth. That mind which does not want to know all 
the truth and obey all truth does not in reality want to know 
any truth. 

No Christian, therefore, and no theologian should 
be afraid to face the search-light of truth. 

The authoritative standard of Christian doctrines is 
the Bible. To attempt to impose anything upon the 
church as fundamental to Christianity that is not found in 
the Bible is impious in itself. 

1. That holiness is a plain doctrine of the Bible 
we shall prove to be true. 

2. It is as plainly a doctrine of reason as of 
revelation. 

3. This doctrine is expressly asserted, or indirectly 
assumed and implied in every part of. the Bible, and the 
passages would be too numerous to be quoted. There 
is not only nothing absurd in the proposition “that man 
should be holy,” but adequate reasons why he should 
be holy. To the abettors of the scheme “that man can 
not be holy, neither can he cease from sin,” we propose 
the following propositions, which are plainly supported 
by the Bible and common sense: 

I. Is man morally capacitated for holiness? 

n 3 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


114 


2. Is God willing and able to make man holy? 

We assert upon the principles of sound philosophy 
and the Bible that man is so morally constituted or 
capacitated that he may be holy, and that it is the will 
of God that he should be holy, and that God is able to 
make him holy. 

Now the abettors of the scheme “that man can not 
be holy, neither can he cease from sinning/* must first 
prove that the above propositions are false before it 
can be demonstrated that men can not be holy in this 
life. 

Should it be proved that man is incapacitated to 
be holy, it would necessarily argue that he was either 
created morally deficient or that through Adam’s sin 
or his own sin he has become incapacitated to be holy. 

The first proposition implies that God was lacking 
either in skill or material, in order that He might have 
made man a complete being, which is as ridiculous as 
it is absurd. The second proposition would take from 
man his moral agency; and thus leave him as incapaci- 
tated for an intelligent life as the brute creation, for 
the reason that will is necessary to an intelligent life, 
and will necessarily involves choice, and choice means 
capacity to be holy. 

Not only a logic of facts shuts us up to this con- 
clusion, but the very nature of things forces us to accept 
the inevitable, namely, by nature of man’s moral agency 
he is capacitated to be holy. 

If man is incapacitated to be holy it simply amounts 
to this, that his moral inability to be holy is an inability 
to will. That is, if man has no ability to make choice 
to be holy, he has no volition, which is the same thing 
as choice. If it were true that man has no power to 
execute volitions, it necessarily implies that he has no 
power to choose a moral or religious life. I lay it down 


HOLINESS ATTAINABLE 


I IS. 

as an incontrovertible proposition that if man is stripped 
of his ability to make choice of a holy character and of 
a holy life it renders him naturally unable to obey God; 
therefore, it renders the grace of God impossible to save 
him so far as his ability to obey is concerned. As one 
has said, “The essence of obedience to God consists in 
willing. ,, Moral ability, then, consists in a natural ability 
to embrace the plan of salvation and be holy. 

Man’s ability or inability to be holy is certainly a 
fundamental question in morals and religion. It has 
to do with the moral government of God and of every 
practical doctrine of morals and religion. 

Before we proceed further it should be distinctly 
understood that physical ability and moral ability are 
two vastly distinct and different things. A man may 
desire to be a philosopher, but his mental condition may 
not admit of it. He may desire to do great physical 
feats, but his physical weakness may not admit of it. 
Moral ability to do resides in the will, not in the physical 
organism. The ability to will is the necessary condition 
of ability to do. In all our moral acts the willing is the 
doing: hence, moral acts respect strictly only acts of 
the will. If man did not have this moral ability he could 
not be a proper subject of command or of rewards or 
punishments; and therefore he could not be a moral 
agent and a proper subject of moral government. 

The ability to will is essential to man’s highest 
good or well-being, for the reason if he had no will he 
could have no intelligent life. 

The fact is that the ability to choose the good or 
holy and refuse the evil or unholy is resident in man; 
therefore, he has the power or ability to choose to be 
holy. 

We have sufficiently proved that the will, by virtue 
of a law of its own, necessarily has the ability to choose 


II 6 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

to be holy; for the same reason it may choose the 
opposite and be unholy. It is solely a matter of choice 
as to what kind of a character man will have. 

The command of God to be holy is another proof 
that man has the ability to be holy. Lev. 11:44, 45 - 
I Pet. 1 : 1 6, “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am 
holy. ,, The command postulates the holiness of God; 
and because He is holy we should be holy. A holy 
character for man is divinely enjoyed. 

It is not, ye may be holy if ye choose or if ye find 
it convenient; but “ye shall be holy.” The requirement 
to be holy is fixed, absolute, direct, imperative. It 
expresses a condition which admits of no question. It 
has all the force and authority that it is possible for an 
all-wise, all-powerful God to put into it. 

The command is all-embracing-, all-comprehensive, 
because it involves all that is implied in God and man. 
It embraces the glory of God and man’s highest good 
or well-being. All that is worth while is involved in it 

It is a stupendous fact that our eternal interest 
depends upon our being holy. The command necessarily 
means the subjugation of our will to the will of God, 
and the saving act of a living and holy God making us 
holy with His holiness, and keeping us holy by the per- 
petual energy of His omnipotence. 

It is a message that God will, if we will, model our 
moral character after His own moral character, so that 
there will be perfect agreement, union, and communion 
without discord, perfect accord, oneness or sameness of 
moral character. It implies that man is capable of holi- 
ness ; else God would not require him to be holy. 

It suggests the original moral character in which 
man was made; and also that he had lost that state 
of holiness ; but that the capacity to be holy still remained. 

The command to be holy insures us that God’s holi- 


HOLINESS ATTAINABLE 


II 7 


ness is not against us, but for us. “Ye shall be holy, 
for I am holy.” This assertion of God, “For I am holy,” 
challenges our admiration and inspires our confidence. 

The command involves that we should be holy for 
what God is in Himself, and for what He has declared 
Himself to be as our holy God. 

God purposes in the command, “Be ye holy,” to lift 
human character to the highest limit. The command is 
a searching test of character; the contrast of character 
between God and man ; thus revealing man’s unholiness 
and God's holiness and at the same time enjoining upon 
man to be holy in his moral character as God is holy 
in His moral character. 

It is the fullest display of divine holiness with its 
magnanimous beneficence, proposing to communicate to 
us His saving grace that we may share in His holiness. 

The command to be holy must necessarily, by virtue 
of a law of infinite holiness, be the unchanging purpose 
of the divine will. 

In view of the foregoing fact, not to obey the com- 
mand to be holy is a hostile act, and, in reality, to have 
no regard for the holiness of God. 

Any normal mind who stands face to face with the 
command, “Be ye holy,” and does not feel its constrain- 
ing power leading him to self-surrender to all the will 
of God must necessarily abandon himself as does the 
Hindu to Brahma, namely, to a desireless condition, 
which means endless perdition. 

The command to be holy itself necessarily assumes 
and implies that man has the natural ability to obey God. 

I. It is one of those moral impossibilities for God 
to require of man what is impossible ; this is another 
reason that man may be holy, else God would not have 
required it. 


Il8 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

2. To assert that man can not obey the command 
to be holy represents God as requiring an impossibility 
on pains of eternal damnation; but God is good, and, 
therefore, He can not be unkind. 

3. God is all-wise, hence He can not require an 
unreasonable thing; but if man can not obey the com- 
mand to be holy it implies that God would require an 
unwise thing. 

4. If man has not the natural ability to obey the 
command to be holy it makes God unkind to require of 
him an impossibility; but God is infinitely good, there- 
fore, He can not be unkind ; hence, the command is just, 
good and holy. Let us, if possible, put the command 
to its utmost test. 

1. There is a natural logical connection between 
the command to be holy and a corresponding holy char- 
acter. 

2. It is a peremptory message to be holy, and the 
central task of man to be holy. 

3. The whole moral character required of and re- 
vealed to man is as true as the command reveals the 
holy character of God. “I am holy,” “ye shall be holy.” 

4. It primarily reveals a holy character for two. 
God is holy, man should or ought to be holy. 

5. The command places before us comparative 
character in its very essence : “I am holy.” Would you 
be my child? Recognize me, Jehovah, and be holy. 

6. It compels an attitude, a choice, a line to be 
taken. Its reality of divine will to be holy appeals to 
the reality of our will to be holy. 

7. It has at core holiness which demands to be 
met actively. 

8. The command to be holy is bound up with the 
inevitable words, eternal destiny. 

9. The command teems with holiness as a funda- 


HOLINESS ATTAINABLE II9 

mental moral condition and fitness for life and death and 
beyond death. 

10. The command to be holy is a message reveal- 
ing infinite holiness, and His eternal, immutable saving 
grace through Jesus Christ for our indelible sin, which 
is to be washed whiter than snow. 

11. The command is a divine message revealing 
that we are not God’s counterparts, but His antagonists ; 
hence our unholiness, which can not be utilized, but must 
be regenerated and sanctified into a positive state of 
holiness, which corresponds to His holiness. 

12. It reveals that holiness of heart is our deepest 
need, in the strictest, holiest sense. 

13. It forces upon us the impressiveness of infinite 
holiness, and the authoritativeness of His message, 
which adds infinite value to the command, “Be ye holy, 
for I am holy.” 

14. The command necessarily means the subjuga- 
tion of our will to the will of God, and the saving act of 
a living and holy God making us holy with His holiness; 
and keeping us holy by the perpetual energy of His 
omnipotence. 

15. It is a message that God will if we will model 
our moral character after His moral character, so that 
there will be perfect agreement, union, and communion 
without discord. At one with God. Amen. 

God has willed that man should be holy, which is 
another proof that holiness is attainable in this life. 
“This is the will of God even your sanctification.” 

God by virtue of a law of His own being neces- 
sarily wills man’s highest good. To be holy is for man’s 
highest good; this no sane man will deny. 

What God wills He is able to do. That is, God has 
the ability to do whatever He wills to do. He has willed 
that man should be holy, and because of His omnipotence 


120 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


He is abundantly able to do exceedingly above all that 
we can ask or think. The fact is, God is able to save 
us from the lowest depths of sin up to the highest point 
to which it is possible for an omnipotent God to save us. 

To assert that “man can not be holy and that he 
can not cease from sin” is to assume that the blood of 
Jesus Christ is ineffectual to cleanse away sin. 

To assert that God can save from all sin, but that 
He will not, would make God unkind. 

Let us more fully consider the second proposition, 
namely, God does will that men should be holy, and is 
able to make men so. 

The Bible and our common sense amply support 
God’s willingness and ability to make men holy. This 
leads us to consider two important facts: First, what is 
the will? and, secondly, who is the wilier? The will 
is our sanctification; and God is the wilier. That is, 
God has willed our sanctification. “This is the will of 
God even your sanctification.” 

1. I here understand the apostle to mean that God 
has determined by an act of choice that we should be 
sanctified. 

2. It involves a divine determination that we must 
be sanctified. 

3. God’s will is supreme authority. 

4. It implies that sanctification is a legacy bequeathed 
by God. 

5. It also means that God is to produce or cause 
our sanctification through the infinite merit of Christ’s 
shed blood. 

On this subject of sanctification we are brought face 
to face with Jehovah’s will. His will is imperative. That 
is, we must not avoid, we must not evade or neglect 
being sanctified. In other words, we must attend to 
being sanctified, for the reason it is pressed home upon 


HOLINESS ATTAINABLE 


121 


us as an absolute necessity to our well-being. Infinite 
intelligence has made the choice that we should be sancti- 
fied ; hence it must by parity of reason be for our highest 
good or well-being. It necessarily follows that if we 
neglect that which is indispensable to our highest good 
or well-being we do it to our eternal undoing. 

In the inquiry of this subject we hope to come 
upon the clear meaning of the text, “This is the will of 
God even your sanctification. ,, Man must stand in one 
of the two relations to the will of God, either to the 
will of God as an outward declaration of divine authority 
in a rebellious sphere, or to the will of God as an inward 
principle of love, and self-surrender to the divine Father. 

Reader, what is your attitude toward the will of 
God in reference to your sanctification? Is it one of 
rebellion or loving obedience? 

He can not by virtue of the law of His own being 
connive at rebellion ; He must not only hate it, but He must 
punish it. 

Once more, the will of God to sanctify is an indictment 
against all moral corruption and sin, and a full recognition 
of moral purity, cleanliness, holiness of heart and of 
life. God is able to do all that is possible to be done. 

Sanctification is indispensable to man’s highest 
good or well-being, else God would not have willed it. 
But God has willed our sanctification. He is the wilier 
and has willed that we be sanctified; and therefore that 
which He has willed He is able to do. 

Once more, whatever God wills He must necessarily, 
by virtue of a law of His own being, know beforehand 
that He is able to do all that He wills to do. 

On this fundamental principle God knew that He 
was able to sanctify man, else He would not have willed 
it. 

God must necessarily know the possibilities and 


1 22 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


impossibilities which lie in His pathway. He knows that 
it is a physical impossibility to make a valley without 
two hills. He knows that it is a moral impossibility to 
sanctify man unless man be willing to be sanctified. He 
also knows that if man is willing to be sanctified, that 
there are not devils nor sin enough all combined to 
prevent his being sanctified. The will of God to sanc- 
tify us must necessarily have its corresponding realities. 
To assert that God can not sanctify us since He wills 
to sanctify us resolves God into a most monstrous pre- 
dicament, namely, that God has attempted an impos- 
sibility and therefore is forced to leave undone a 
necessity. 

Again, to assert that God can not sanctify is to admit 
that the devil has done a work that the Almighty can 
not undo, which is as ridiculous as it is absurd. 

To assume that God can sanctify, but will not, is 
to make God unkind, for the reason sanctification is for 
our highest good, hence infinite goodness necessarily 
plans for our sanctification. 

The attainableness of holiness in this life is further 
evident from Saint Paul’s prayer, “And the very God of 
peace sanctify you wholly: and I pray God your whole 
spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the 
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Thess. 5 : 23). These 
are truly sublime words, and embrace the one com- 
prehensive thought, namely, the complete sanctification 
of the whole man — body, soul, and spirit. 

The following is a plain, just interpretation of this 

text. 

1. Paul prays for the perfect or complete sanctifi- 
cation of these Thessalonians. “And the very God of 
peace sanctify you wholly.” The etymology of the word 
“wholly” means entirely, completely, totally, fully. Now 
the only legitimate inference of Paul’s statement is this: 


HOLINESS ATTAINABLE 


123 


His prayer was for perfect, full, or complete, entire sanc- 
tification for these Thessalonians. They were converted 
in Thessalonica, about six months previous to his first 
epistle to the Thessalonians. Read Acts 17:1-4. They 
were truly justified. Read I Thess. 1 : 3-8 as proof. 

2. That God is the source of our sanctification is 
proof from what the text says, “The very God of peace 
sanctify you wholly.” 

3. The will of God is our sanctification. 

4. The whole man is to be sanctified. “Sanctify 
you wholly,” “body, soul, and spirit/’ 

5. The prayer itself is proof that God can sanctify 
and that it is an attainment which is reached in this life. 

6. The immutability of God insures us that He will 
sanctify us wholly. Read 24th verse as proof, “Faith- 
ful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” 

“God is faithful” to sanctify those He has called 
to holiness, “For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, 
but unto holiness” (I Thess. 4:7). God has called us to 
holiness, and Paul says, “Faithful is he that calleth 
you, who also will do it.” Do what? Why, sanctify 
you wholly. That is, God’s calling us to holiness is a 
guarantee that He will sanctify us wholly. 

7. It is a prayer for the preservation of the wholly 
sanctified till the coming of Christ. Proof text, “Your 
whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto 
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Is it not sur- 
passingly strange that any normal mind would reject the 
doctrine of holiness since its source is from God and 
the Bible? It is foolish to assert that we can not be 
holy, neither can we cease from sin. Reason indignantly 
rebukes such nonsense. 

Moreover, the apostle Paul prayed that the Thessa- 
lonians might be sanctified, but if sanctification is not 
attainable, he prayed for a thing that was palpably 


124 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


against the laws and facts which had already been es- 
tablished. But the apostle must necessarily know that 
it was the will of God that we should be sanctified ; 
for the reason that God had revealed it to him through 
the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. 

The question is, what are the possibilities in the 
case? We answer, it is possible to be sanctified; first, 
because God has willed it; and, secondly, it is possible to 
be sanctified because the determining power of God is 
able to execute His will ; and, thirdly, it must be attain- 
able else the Holy Scriptures would not teach it. 

Lastly, the possibility of sanctification determined 
into fact. There are some things possible and others im- 
possible. This is a fact of vital importance relative to 
the subject of experimental holiness. The question then 
is, What are the possibilities in entering into the ex- 
perimental state of holiness? Things can not be just 
any way. It is an eternal law that there is a cause for 
every effect. We do not happen to get sanctified, neither 
is it an arbitrary act to God. There are infinite reasons 
why we are sanctified. There is in everything certain 
possibilities or impossibilities which should be guarded. 
To illustrate: The possibilities are that you may have a 
well on a hill; but the law of necessity compells you 
to dig deep. That is the condition of getting water, that 
you dig deep. There is the possibility that you may 
live in the pure air of the country; but in order to do 
this the law of necessity compels you to leave the old 
stuffy city. That is, the conditions of good health neces- 
sitate that you live in the pure air. The possibilities are 
that you may make a successful farmer, but in order 
to do this you must let alone merchandising, that you 
may give your undivided time and attention to your 
farm work. 

Now apply these common sense, every-day facts to a 


HOLINESS ATTAINABLE 


125 


sanctified heart and life and you have a sane method of 
obtaining and retaining the experience of sanctification. 

All possibilities are according to various conditions. 
That is, nothing is possible without certain conditions. 
Wings are necessary for a bird to fly; legs are essential 
to walking. It is possible that we may be wholly sanc- 
tified; but the law of necessity provides that we meet the 
conditions. 

1. The first condition, in order to enter into the 
experience of sanctification, is that our will and choice 
must be God’s will and choice. No one can rationally 
hope to attain a state of sanctification who has not the 
conscious, abiding, present, desired willingness to attain 
such a state. 

No one can rationally hope to be sanctified who is 
not fully committed to separate himself wholly unto 
God ; and co-operate with Him in loving, willing obedience. 

Therefore, where there is neither desire nor will to 
be sanctified, there can be no rational, attending hope 
to its attainment. Then the only foundation upon which 
we can build any rational hope for sanctification is that 
our will and choice must be the will and choice of God. 

2. There must be an abiding state of consecration 
of yourself in an everlasting, living sacrifice in order for 
you to have a rational hope that you may make the 
attainment of sanctification possible. 

3. That God has provided all necessary means to 
secure the attainment of sanctification; and that there 
is no insurmountable difficulty in the way of this attain- 
ment, provided you are willing and do use the necessary 
means which God has provided for its attainment. 

4. No one need rationally hope to exercise faith 
to be sanctified unless he meets all the conditions and 
uses all the means in the required manner prescribed 
in the Bible. 


126 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


5. Apprehending and embracing sanctification 
implies the apprehension of the fact that we of ourselves 
are dead to sin, and that our life is hid with Christ in 
God, and that we are not of the world even as our Lord 
Jesus is not of the world. Read John 17: 16-20. 

6. None need rationally hope ever to be sanctified 
who does not separate himself from the world and 
worldly conformity. Read II Cor. 6: 14-18; Rom. 12: i, 2. 
No one can wilfully violate the divine laws and thus take 
part with Satan against God and rationally hope to be 
a Christian in any sense of the word. 

Entire consecration involves obedience to the law 
of God or to all the known will of God. That is, our 
whole being — body, soul and spirit — is set apart to be 
devoted to the true and living God. 

It also implies that our money, time, talents — all 
are set apart as sacred things, to be used to the glory 
of God and for our own highest good and for the well- 
being of humanity. Read Luke 10:28. 

Perfect love is the royal law. We are to love noth- 
ing but in reference to God and on account of God. 
Less than this will not reach the bottom point of per- 
fect consecration. That is, consecration means that we 
are supremely devoted to God ; while, on the other hand, 
those who are not thus consecrated are devoted to their 
own interest. The loving, obedient choice puts into 
our consecration a pure, holy quality. The loving, will- 
ing devotion to God makes all the difference in the 
quality. 

To sanctify means to make holy; to purify from all 
moral impurity; to save from all sin. This involves the 
quality or state of being; while, on the other hand, con- 
secration implies the attitude of the will toward the will 
of God. The first implies holiness or moral purity of 
being; the latter, a state of consecration to the service 


HOLINESS ATTAINABLE 12 ? 

of God. The first is a positive work wrought in the 
soul; the latter is negative. 

Consecration assumes the same relation to sanctifi- 
cation that repentance does to regeneration or justifica- 
tion. The one is whether we will repent that we may 
consistently hope in and believe the gospel and be con- 
verted. The other is whether we will fully or completely 
dedicate the powers of our being, native and acquired, to the 
sacred service of God and humanity. 

Hear the conclusion of the whole matter: “And 
He [Jesus] answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and 
with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy 
neighbor as thyself.” “This do,” and thou art sanctified 
wholly. This statement of Christ puts every one to the 
test of absolute surrender to all the will of God, and 
loving obedience to His will, and equitably dealing with 
our neighbors. 

Perfect love toward God necessarily issues in love 
towards our fellow man. It is not love in its relation to man 
merely; but love in the relation of man to man, with its 
prior and presupposed fact of love in relation of man to God. 
Truly “our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son 
Jesus Christ.” Here is perfect love, perfect intimacy 
between the truly sanctified and his God. Loving God 
supremely and our neighbor as ourselves is the fulfilling of 
the law. Perfect love service is the essential motive of truly 
sanctified service. 

Competitive service: Jesus no doubt had in His 
mind the service of God and the service of mammon. 
Love is the motive which influences conduct; and our 
Lord here has in view two competitive services, viz., 
the service of God and the service of mammon. And 
He submits to the young lawyer the acceptance “of lov- 
ing God with all his heart and with all his soul and 


128 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


with all his mind and with all his strength and his 
neighbor as himself,” as a test service in opposition to 
mammon service. 

How stands the facts related to the subject? Why, 
this young man had great riches, and mammon is a 
name for worldly riches. It also means any illicit love. 
It may be appetite, it may be ease, it may be honor. 
Mjammon has still his images and worshipers. It takes 
the form of worldly pleasures, money makings, acquir- 
ing houses and land, furniture, equipages, dress, food; 
in fact, any inordinate indulgence is giving service to 
mammon. 

This young man had been living inordinately; Jesus 
teaches him the way of a more profitable life, namely, 
holiness of heart and of life. It further suggests single- 
ness of service, loyal and unswerving toward God. The 
truly sanctified man is bound up in one universal obliga- 
tion of loving, obedient service to God. 

Lastly, I must insist that our Lord Jesus in this 
text sets up the standard of Christian perfection. Loftier 
claims could not be imposed upon man; greater than 
this man can not attain to ; less than this God will not 
accept, else Jesus would not have taught it. 

Conclusion: We have proved that holiness is attain- 
able in this life, first, because God requires it. 

Secondly. We have proved that it is one of those 
moral impossibilities for God to require of us an im- 
possibility. 

Thirdly. We have proved that holiness is attainable 
in this life, because God has willed it. Infinite intel- 
ligence would not will that we be sanctified if its attain- 
ableness was not co-extensive with the divine will. 

Fourthly. We have proved that holiness is attain- 
able in this life, because God is able to make us holy. 

Fifthly. We have proved that holiness is attainable 


HOLINESS ATTAINABLE 


129 


in this life because Paul prayed that the Thessalonian 
converts might be sanctified wholly. 

Sixthly. We have proved from the Bible and com- 
mon sense that holiness is attainable in this life. 

What more proof do you require? 

Well may we sing with that writer of some of the 
noblest heart hymns, the Rev. Charles Wesley, 

Plenteous grace with Thee is found, 

Grace to cover all my sin: 

Let the healing streams abound, 

Make and keep me pure within. 

Thou of life the fountain art; 

Freely let me take of Thee: 

Spring Thou up within my heart, 

Rise to all eternity. 


CHAPTER XI 


A THEOLOGY INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE NEW BIRTH 

That the “New theology” has radically departed 
from the fundamental principles and doctrines of Chris- 
tianity is admitted by many evangelical Christians. The 
particular thought of this chapter will discuss the theory 
concerning “A child coming into the world is already in 
the Kingdom of God,” and that “With proper training 
need never wander away from God”; and that “a child 
is to grow up a Christian and never know himself as 
being otherwise.” This is Horace Bushnell’s “New 
Theology.” It is not my purpose or intention to dis- 
cuss this subject at length, but merely to point out the 
erroneousness of such a theory and its fatal results to 
Christianity. 

I see in this “New Theology” a wide spreading evil 
like the plagues of Egypt, that ought to be unsparingly 
rebuked from pulpit and press, for the reason it in- 
validates the necessity of the “new birth.” 

1. Had this class of theologians sufficiently accumu- 
lated facts before they had rushed to such hasty con- 
clusions they would not have resolved themselves into 
such ridiculous and absurd conclusions. 

2. The second error is that they have not compared 
facts with similar facts. 

3. It is a radical departure from the teachings of 
Christ and the apostles. 

4. It has the declaration of Christ and the apostles, 

131 


132 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


and the general belief of Evangelical churches to over- 
come. 

5. It has the fall of man, the doctrines of sin, 
the atonement, and the new birth as facts to be reckoned 
with. 

6. That which does not embrace the truthfulness 
of the New Testament must be anti-Christian in its 
tendency. 

7. The common faith involves a common acceptance 
of the New Testament teaching on the necessity of the 
“new birth.” 

8. The assumption is that Christendom has, in 
general, misconceived the meaning of the “new birth” 
as stated in the New Testament. 

9. If the “New Theology” be accepted the teachings 
of Christ and of the apostles on the necessity of the 
new birth must be rejected, and the hopeless task of 
reconstruction of certain texts, or expunging them from 
the Bible. 

10. It is verily impossible for the theory by any 
legitimate process of reasoning to give a satisfactory ex- 
planation of the origin of sin and evil which is found to 
exist in infants or children. 

11. The Scriptures in general forbid us to accept 
the theory. 

12. It is not true to the facts in human history. 

13. The legitimate conclusion of the theory is that 
children come into the world sinless and unfallen. 

14. It is not known at least among human beings 
that any race has been born sinless or unfallen. What 
sane person would believe children are born sinless and 
.unfallen? 

15. In view of the assumption that “a child on 
coming into the world is in the kingdom of God,” and 
that “with proper training need never wander away from 


A THEOLOGY INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE NEW BIRTH 1 33 

God/’ and that “a child is to grow up a Christian and 
never know himself otherwise” necessarily involves that 
children thus born are neither guilty nor morally impure 
or corrupt; hence come into the world unfallen beings, 
and therefore need no redemption. 

16. It is an admitted fact that the atonement is pre- 
eminently and exclusively for a fallen race, and not for 
unfallen beings; and therefore the assumption of the 
“New Theology” that our children are born without de- 
pravity, hence unfallen, and therefore do not need an 
atonement made by God through Jesus Christ. 

17. Then, too, if children are born without a de- 
praved nature they would have no valid right in the 
interest of Christ as Savior. 

18. Moreover this type of religious beings are 
limited in their religious experience in that they have 
not passed through the washing of regeneration and the 
renewing of the Holy Ghost, for the reason they became 
the children of God by generation or natural birth, and 
not by regeneration. 

19. Therefore this type of religious persons stands 
outside the Christian family according to the inevitable 
law of the new birth. 

20. The sum total of the whole question simply 
amounts to this, namely, that the making of a holy being 
is by natural birth and not by regeneration and entire 
sanctification. 

The foregoing propositions are facts to be reckoned 
with. This is the dilemma of the advocates of this 
new teaching, not mine. I am sure they will have no easy 
task to justify the validity of their “New Theology.” 

We now proceed with the principal argument for the 
necessity of the new birth. 

1. It is an admitted fact that all of Adam’s race 
on coming into the world are depraved and are also 


134 THE REDEEMING purpose of god 

spiritually dead, and it is equally true that to be 
quickened into life is the work of the Holy Spirit in the 
act of regenerating the soul. 

2. Our proposition is that all children coming into 
the world are by nature depraved, and spiritually or 
morally dead, and that they will so remain until quickened 
into life by the Holy Spirit. And therefore until it can 
be proved “that spiritual death or moral death” can of 
itself generate life, and “that spiritual life is not the gift 
of the Holy Spirit”; until this is demonstrated my propo- 
sition holds good. How stand the facts? 

The Scriptures prove all mankind under sin, and in 
need of the “new birth.” “Behold,” says the Psalmist, 
“I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother con- 
ceive me” (Ps. 51 :5). Job says, “Who can bring a clean 
thing out of an unclean? not one” (Job 14:4). In Ro- 
mans 5:17-21 we see proven conclusively the universality 
of sin. 

The assurance of the necessity of the new birth is 
also conclusive from what Christ and the apostles 
taught. 

Christ asserts that the new birth is indispensable 
to admittance into the kingdom of heaven. Hear Him: 
“Except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the 
kingdom of heaven.” “Ye must be born again.” 

Here Jesus asserts that the only way into the king- 
dom of God is through the “new birth.” 

If we are to take our Lord’s statement at its full 
value the only possible inference is that no son or 
daughter of Adam can enter into the kingdom of God 
except they be born again. 

To be born again is imperative. There can be no 
alternative. The only question is, is the teaching of 
Christ to be trusted or shall we make the basis of our 
Christian faith a blind acceptance of another person’s 


A THEOLOGY INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE NEW BIRTH 1 35 

doctrine? Here is the test, namely, the impossibility of 
reconciling the authority of Christ on the necessity of 
being born again in order to enter the kingdom of God 
with the assumption of the “New Theology” in that “a 
child on coming into the world is already in the kingdom 
of God.” 

St. Paul postulates “spiritual death” and “spiritual 
life.” Hear him: “And you hath he quickened, who 
were dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). That is 
to say, they were by nature sinful, fallen creatures. The 
great change suggested by the word “quickened” means 
made spiritually alive, brought into life, as the result 
of the Holy Spirit’s power effectually new-making them. 

Once more, the value and importance that John 
attached to the new birth is sufficient proof of its neces- 
sity. He said, “Which were born, not of blood, nor 
of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man but of God.” 

1. John here shows the impossibility of becoming 
Christians or “sons of God” by natural birth. 

2. He shows that we are born into the kingdom 
through the power of Christ : To them gave he power 
to become the sons of God. 

Here is the testimony of Christ and the apostles as 
facts to be reckoned with. If the necessity of the new 
birth be denied, the testimony of Christ and the apostles 
must be waived aside. 

Again, the difficulties created by the “New Theo- 
logy” forbid us to accept it. 1. The life of the Christian 
loses its meaning without the new birth. 2. The father- 
hood of God and sonship in the heavenly family are in- 
explicable without the new birth. Romans 8:15-17 would 
be meaningless to any one who has not been born of 
God. And so also many other texts of like import. 

This leads us to consider that the Bible is to be re- 
garded as the only divine and infallible authority for 


I36 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

Christian doctrine. No one can directly prove by mere 
reason that his doctrines are correct or incorrect only as 
he has recourse to the Bible. We must regard the doc- 
trines of biblical infallibility if we would have a solid 
foundation upon which to rest our Christian faith. The 
“New Theology” and “New thought,” have cut loose from 
the Bible and are drifting as helplessly and hopelessly 
as a rudderless ship upon a storm-tossed sea. They 
are hopelessly ingulfed in mere assumptions, and have 
substituted mere hypothesis for sound Christian doctrine. 
The Bible alone is the only medium that can give us 
an infallible body of religious history and doctrines. 

The inerrancy of the principles and doctrines as 
taught by Christ and the apostles cannot in the very 
nature of the case admit of question. It is not claimed 
for the opinions of men which have been attached to the 
doctrines of Christianity that they are inerrant, and there- 
fore there can be no exception in respect to their infalli- 
bility; and for this reason we claim that Mr. Bushnell’s 
“New Theology” is not only not strictly true to fact, 
but that it is a radical departure from the teachings of 
Christ and the apostles. 

As another consideration to prove that the “New 
Theology” has no satisfactory explanation we note the 
following facts: 

1. That as man on account of the fall had lost all 
the privileges of his natural filiation, to regain them he 
must be received into the family of God by way of the 
“new birth.” 

2. This new birth necessarily includes that we are 
entirely cut off from the old degenerate family, having no 
longer any spiritual relation to or connection with it. 
For this reason St. Paul says, “Therefore if any man be 
in Christ he is a new creature ; old things have passed 
away; behold, all things are become new” (II Cor. 5:17). 


A THEOLOGY INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE NEW BIRTH I37 

3. That the new birth admits us into the heavenly 
family so that we are under the sole rule and government 
of our heavenly Father, to be employed as He shall 
choose to employ us, and to be entirely at His disposal, 
in body, soul, and spirit. “Thy will be done” is now the 
rule of life. 

4. On account of the new birth we are heirs in the 
heavenly family, enjoying those privileges while we 
act according to the law, and to the rules and constitu- 
tion of the household of God. “If children, then heirs; 
heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.” We share 
and share equally, and share alike with our Elder 
Brother, Christ. Sinning is not allowed in the heavenly 
family: “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit 
sin.” “Whosoever committeth sin is of the devil.” 

5. The new birth changes our old consanguinity 
(I use the term in the sense of “lineal,” “straight line”), 
and therefore of the same blood of the heavenly family, 
standing no longer in any filial relationship to the old, 
degenerate stock. Jesus Christ is our kith and kin, 
“Elder Brother,” and God is our Father. “Ye are no 
more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with 
the saints, and of the household of God” (Eph. 2:19). 

6. The “new birth” necessarily gives us a new 
nature, and the very name of our heavenly Father, “sons 
of God,” and we are to be in every respect conformed 
to the Elder Brother, Christ. Hear Paul: “Be con- 
formed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:29). Con- 
formity to the image of Christ is the condition of mem- 
bership in the heavenly family and retention of privilege. 

Having been born into the family we now have all 
the rights and privileges of that family and will so con- 
tinue if we in every respect are obedient and attentive 
to the family harmony and interest; but in case we rebel 
against the will of God or disobey His commandments 


I38 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

we lose all rights and privileges in the family, for “he 
that committeth sin is of the devil.” 

Let us apply these principles in a more particular 
manner relative to the necessity of the “new birth”: 

1. Man, having sinned against God, ceased to be His 
son; for, in order to constitute filiation, it is essential 
that the child share the same nature with the father. 
As God’s nature is holy, pure, and perfect, when man 
sinned he lost his conformity to this nature — he lost the 
image of God in which he was created, and became un- 
holy, impure, and imperfect. What is true of Adam is 
true of every child coming into the world. 

2. To restore man to that which he lost in the fall, 
the way of the “new birth” only is left. Jesus asserts 
this fact, “Ye must be born again.” “Except a man be 
born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” There 
is no alternative. 

3. In being “born of God” he is no longer his own, 
he is God’s right; body, soul, and spirit belong to his 
heavenly Father. He is ever to feel himself absolutely 
at the disposal of God; and is bound, if he would enjoy 
the privileges of the family, to take God’s word for the 
rule of his life, and God’s Spirit for the regulator of his 
heart and affections. 

4. The “new birth” necessarily must involve obedi- 
ience to the will of the Father, and conformity to the 
rule of the heavenly family is founded on the state of 
salvation into which he is brought, and the ineffable 
privileges to which he has now a right — an heir of God, 
and a joint heir with Christ Jesus. 

5. Thus the “new birth” implies a new name — 
are called “sons of God,” “children of God,” “heirs of 
God.” The members of the family are called saints. 
Holiness becomes God’s house and family forever. 


A THEOLOGY INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE NEW BIRTH I39 

Where there is no sonship there is no saintship and con- 
sequently no heirship and no inheritance. 

In the foregoing argument I have followed Dr. Adam 
Clarke with some variation yet have kept closely to his 
essential thought. Dr. Clarke says: “So deep is the 
stain, so radical the habits of sinning, so strong the pro- 
pensity to do what is evil, that nothing less than the 
power by which the soul was created can conquer these 
habits, eradicate these vices and cause such a leper to 
change his spots, and such an Ethiopian his hue.” The 
whole change which the soul undergoes in its conver- 
sion is the effect of a divine energy within. This is the 
Gospel promise when it promises to send forth the 
Holy Spirit. It is wholly God's work. It would be as 
reasonable to assume that by planting brickbats that we 
could raise a crop of potatoes as to assume that we could 
get a spiritual life out of a carnal, degenerate life. From 
divine life only comes divine life is my proposition, and 
that this life only comes through the medium of the 
“new birth.” This will hold good until the opposite 
is demonstrated. 

Mbreover, the phrase “except a man be born again,” 
is another proof that the “New Theology” is anti-Chris- 
tian. Note the facts here stated: I. Man is used in 
a “generic” sense. That is, it differentiates between all 
other species, separating man from the lower animals. 
It embraces all human beings whether adults or children. 
All of the human race are included, none excluded. 

2. The necessity of all men being re-born, “new 
born,” “spirit born,” “born from above,” “born of God.” 
The new birth partakes of the radical idea of the produc- 
tion of new tissue to supply the place of an old texture 
lost or removed. Man is radically depraved. His whole 
moral constitution is corrupted — conscience, affections, 
and will. The deep indispensable need of man is a re- 


140 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


production of a new moral tissue to supply the place 
of the old. The old cannot be remodeled or so cultured 
religiously that it need never be any thing other than 
Christian. “Patch work” is fatal. The Lord Jesus used 
the patching of the old garment figuratively of attempt- 
ing the Christian life without the “new birth.” The 
same truth is stated in His teaching by illustrating the 
putting of “new wine” into “old bottles.” “That which is 
born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the 
Spirit is spirit” is the truest philosophy ever preached. 
Like begets like. Every child of Adam will forever re- 
main in a state of the “carnal mind” unless moved upon 
by the energy of the Holy Spirit, re-birthing into a spir- 
itual state. 

As a further proof of the necessity of the new birth, 
the writer submits to the reader one of the most con- 
clusive arguments known in literature outside the Bible, 
from the pen of Prof. Henry Drummond, F. R. S. E., 
F. G. S. Mr. Drummond bases his whole argument on 
the doctrine of Biogenesis. 

For much more than two hundred years a similar discussion 
has dragged its length through the religious world. Two great 
schools here also have defended exactly opposite views — one that 
the Spiritual Life in man can only come from pre-existing Life, 
the other that it can Spontaneously Generale itself. Taking its 
stand upon the initial statement of the Author of the Spiritual Life, 
one small school, in the face of derision and opposition, has per- 
sistently maintained the doctrine of Biogenesis. Another, larger 
and with greater pretension to philosophic form, has defended 
Spontaneous Generation. The weakness of the former school 
consists — though this has been much exaggerated — in its more or 
less general adherence to the extreme view that religion had nothing 
to do with the natural life; the weakness of the latter lay in 
yielding to the more fatal extreme that it had nothing to do with 
anything else. That man, being a worshipping animal by nature, 
ought to maintain certain relations to the Supreme Being, was 
indeed to some extent conceded by the naturalistic school, but 
religion itself was looked upon as a thing to be spontaneously 


A THEOLOGY INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE NEW BIRTH I4I 

generated by the evolution of character in the laboratory of com- 
mon life. 

The difference between the two positions is radical. Trans- 
lating from the language of Science into that of Religion, the 
theory of Spontaneous Generation is simply that a man may 
become gradually better and better until in course of the process 
he reaches that quality of religious nature known as Spiritual 
Law. This Life is not something added ab extra to the natural 
man; it is the normal and appropriate development of the natural 
man. Biogenesis opposes to this the whole doctrine of Regeneration. 
The Spiritual Life is the gift of the Living Spirit. The spiritual 
man is no mere development of the natural man. He is a New 
Creation borh from Above. As well expect a hay infusion to 
become gradually more and more living until in course of the 
process it reached Vitality, as expect a man by becoming better 
and better to attain the Eternal Life. 

The advocates of Biogenesis in Religion have founded their 
argument hitherto all but exclusively on Scripture. The relation 
of the doctrine to the constitution and course of Nature was not 
disclosed. Its importance, therefore, was solely as a dogma; and 
being directly concerned with the Supernatural, it was valid for those 
alone who chose to accept the Supernatural. 

Yet it has beeen keenly felt by those who attempt to defend 
this doctrine of the origin of the Spiritual Life, that they have 
nothing more to oppose to the rationalistic view than the ipse 
dixit of Revelation. The argument from experience, in the nature 
of the case, is seldom easy to apply, and Christianity has always 
found at this point a genuine difficulty in meeting the challenge 
of Natural Religions. The direct authority of Nature, using 
Nature in its limited sense, was not here to be sought for. On 
such a question its voice was necessarily silent; and all that the 
apologist could look for lower down was a distant echo or analogy. 
All that is really possible, indeed, is such an analogy; and if that 
can now be found in Biogenesis, Christianity in its most central 
position secures at length a support and basis in the Laws of 
Nature. 

Up to the present time the analogy required has not been 
forthcoming. There was no known parallel in Nature for the 
spiritual phenomena in question. But now the case is altered. 
With the elevation of Biogenesis to the rank of a scientific fact, 
all problems concerning the Origin of Life are placed on a different 
footing. And it remains to be seen whether Religion cannot at 


142 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


once re-affirm and re-shape its argument in the light of this modern 
truth. 

If the doctrine of the Spontaneous Generation of Spiritual 
Life can be met on scientific grounds, it will mean the removal 
of the most serious enemy Christianity has to deal with, and 
especially within its own borders, at the present day. The religion 
of Jesus has probably always suffered more from those who have 
misunderstood than from those who have opposed it. Of the 
multitudes who confess Christianity at this -hour how many have 
clear in their minds the cardinal distinction established by its 
Founder between “born of the flesh” and “born of the spirit”? 
By how many teachers of Christianity even is not this fundamental 
postulate persistently ignored? A thousand modern pulpits every 
seventh day are preaching the doctrine of Spontaneous Generation. 
The finest and best of recent poetry is coloured with this same error. 
Spontaneous Generation is the leading theology of the modern 
religious or irreligious novel; and much of the most serious and 
cultured writing of the day devotes itself to earnest preaching of 
this impossible gospel. The current conception of the Christian 
religion in short — the conception which is held not only popularly 
but by men of culture — is founded upon a view of its origin 
which, if it were true, would render the whole scheme abortive. 

Let us first place vividly in our imagination the picture of the 
two great Kingdoms of Nature, the inorganic and organic, as these 
now stand in the light of the Law of Biogenesis. What essentially 
is involved in saying that there is no Spontaneous Generation of 
Life? It is meant that the passage from the mineral world to the 
plant or animal world is hermetically sealed on the mineral side. 
This inorganic world is staked off from the living world by barriers 
which have never yet been crossed from within. No change of 
substance, no modification of environment, no chemistry, no electricity, 
nor any form of energy, nor any evolution can endow any single 
atom of the mineral world with the attribute of Life. Only by 
the bending down into this dead world of some living form can 
these dead atoms be gifted with the properties of vitality, without 
this preliminary contact with Life they remain fixed in the inorganic 
sphere for ever. It is a very mysterious Law which guards in 
this way the portals of the living world. And if there is one thing 
in Nature more worth pondering for its strangeness it is the 
spectacle of this vast helpless world of the dead cut off from the 
living by the Law of Biogenesis and denied for ever the possibility 
of resurrection within itself. So very strange a thing, indeed, is 
this broad line in Nature, that Science has long and urgently sought 


A THEOLOGY INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE NEW BIRTH I43 

to obliterate it. Biogenesis stands in the way of some forms of 
Evolution with such stern persistency that the assaults upon this 
Law for number and thoroughness have been unparalleled. But, 
as we have seen, it has stood the test. Nature, to the modern eye, 
stands broken in two. The physical Laws may explain the inorganic 
world; the biological Laws may account for the development of 
the organic. But of the point where they meet, of that strange 
borderland between the dead and the living, Science is silent. It 
is as if God had placed everything in earth and heaven in the hands 
of Nature, but reserved a point at the genesis of Life for His 
direct appearing. 

The power of the analogy, for which we are laying the founda- 
tions, to seize and impress the mind, will largely depend on the 
vividness with which one realizes the gulf which Nature places 
between the living and the dead. But those who, in contemplating 
Nature, have found their attention arrested by this extraordinary 
dividing-line severing the visible universe eternally into two; those 
who in watching the progress of science have seen barrier after 
barrier disappear — barrier between plant and plant, between animal 
and animal, and even between animal and plant — but this gulf yawn 
more hopelessly wide with every advance of knowledge, will be 
prepared to attach a significance to the Law of Biogenesis and its 
analogies more profound perhaps than to any other fact or law in 
Nature. If, as Pascal says, Nature is an image of grace; if the 
things that are seen are in any sense the images of the unseen, 
there must lie in this great gulf fixed, this most unique and startling 
of all natural phenomena, a meaning of peculiar moment. 

Where now in the Spiritual spheres shall we meet a companion 
phenomenon to this? What in the Unseen shall be likened to this 
deep dividing-line, or where in human experience is another barrier 
which never can be crossed? 

There is such a barrier. In the dim but not inadequate vision 
of the Spiritual World presented in the Word of God, the first 
thing that strikes the eye is a great gulf fixed. The passage from 
the Natural World to the Spiritual World is hermetically sealed 
on the natural side. The door from the inorganic to the organic 
is shut, no mineral can open it; so the door from the natural to 
the spiritual is shut, and no man can open it. This world of 
natural men is staked off from the Spiritual World by barriers 
which have never yet been crossed from within. No organic 
change, no modification of environment, no mental energy, no moral 
effort, no evolution of character, no progress of civilization can 


144 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


endow any single human soul with the attribute of Spiritual Life. 
The Spiritual World is guarded from the world next in order 
beneath it by a law of Biogenesis — except a man be born again . . 
except a man be born of water and of the Spirit , he cannot enter 
the Kingdom of God. 

It is not said in this enunciation of the law, that if the condi- 
tion be not fulfilled the natural man will not enter the Kingdom 
of God. The word is cannot. For the exclusion of the spiritually 
inorganic from the Kingdom of the spiritually organic is not arbi- 
trary. Nor is the natural man refused admission on unexplained 
grounds. His admission is a scientific impossibility. Except a 
mineral be born “from above” — from the Kingdom just above it — it 
cannot enter the Kingdom just above it. And except a man be 
born “from above,” by the same law, he cannot enter the Kingdom 
just above him. There being no passage from one Kingdom to 
another, whether from inorganic to organic, or from organic to 
spiritual, the intervention of Life is a scientific necessity if a stone 
or a plant or an animal or a man is to pass from a lower to a 
higher sphere. The plant stretches down to the dead world beneath 
it, touches its minerals and gases with its mystery of Life, and 
brings them up ennobled and transformed to the living sphere. The 
breath of God, blowing where it listeth, touches with its mystery of 
Life the dead souls of men, bears them across the bridgeless gulf 
between the natural and the spiritual, between the spiritually in- 
organic and the spiritually organic, endows them with its own high 
qualities, and develops within them these new and secret faculties, 
by which those who are born again are said to see the Kingdom 
of God. 

What is the evidence for this great gulf fixed at the portals 
of the Spiritual World? Does Science close this gate, or Reason, 
or Experience, or Revelation? We reply, all four. The initial 
statement, it is not to be denied, reaches us from Revelation. But 
is not this evidence here in court? Or shall it be said that any 
argument deduced from this is a transparent circle — that after all 
we simply come back to the unsubstantiality of the ipse dixit ? Not 
altogether, for the analogy lends an altogether new authority to 
the ipse dixit. How substantial that argument really is, is seldom 
realized. We yield the point here much too easily. The right of 
the Spiritual World to speak of its own phenomena is as secure 
as the right of the Natural World to speak of itself. What is 
Science but what the Natural World has said to natural men? 
What is Revelation but what the Spiritual World has said to Spirit- 


A THEOLOGY INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE NEW BIRTH I45 


ual men? Let us at least ask what Revelation has announced with 
reference to the Spiritual Law of Biogenesis; afterwards we shall 
inquire whether Science, while endorsing the verdict, may not also 
have some further vindication of its title to be heard. 

The words of Scripture which preface this inquiry contain an 
explicit and original statement of the Law of Biogenesis for the 
Spiritual Life. “He that hath the Son hath Life, and he that 
nath not the Son of God hath not Life.” Life, that is to say, 
depends upon contact with Life. It cannot spring up of itself. 
It cannot develop out of anything that is not Life. There is no 
Spontaneous Generation in religion any more than in Nature. Christ 
is the source of Life in the Spiritual World; and he that hath the 
Son hath Life, and he that hath not the Son, whatever else he may 
have, hath not Life. Here, in short, is the categorical denial of 
Abiogenesis and the establishment in this high field of the classical 
formula Omne vivum ex vivo — no Life without antecedent Life. 
In this mystical theory of the Origin of Life the whole of the New 
Testament writers are agreed. And, as we have already seen, 
Christ Himself founds Christianity upon Biogenesis stated in its 
most literal form. “Except a man be born of water and of the 
Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is 
born of the flesh is flesh ; and that which is born of the Spirit is 
Spirit. Marvel not that I said unto you, ye must be born again.” 
Why did He add Marvel not ? Did He seek to allay the fear in the 
bewildered ruler’s mind that there was more in this novel doctrine 
than a simple analogy from the first to the second birth? 

The attitude of the natural man, again, with reference to the 
Spiritual, is a subject on which the New Testament is equally 
pronounced. Not only in his relation to the spiritual man, but to 
the whole Spiritual World, the natural man is regarded as dead. 
He is as a crystal to an organism. The natural world is to the 
Spiritual as the inorganic to the organic. “To be carnallv minded 
is Death.” “Thou hast a name to live, but art Dead” “She that 
liveth in pleasure is Dead while she liveth.” “To you hath He 
given Life which were Dead in trespasses and sins.” 

It is clear that a remarkable harmony exists here between the 
Organic World as arranged by Science and the Spiritual World as 
arranged by Scripture. We find one great Law guarding the thres- 
holds of both worlds, securing that entrance from a lower sphere 
shall only take place by a direct regenerating act, and that emanat- 
ing from the world next in order above. There are not two laws 
of Biogenesis, one for the natural, the other for the Spiritual; 


I46 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

one law is for both. Wherever there is Life, Life of any kind, this 
same law holds. The analogy, therefore, is only among the phe- 
nomena; between laws there is no analogy — there is Continuity. 
In either case, the first step in peopling these worlds with the 
appropriate living forms is virtually miracle. Nor in one case is 
there less of mystery in the act than in the other. The second 
birth is scarcely less perplexing to the theologian than the first td 
the embryologist. 

Moreover, the old theory that the child stands in the 
same relation to God as that of a regenerated soul is 
not true to facts. 

1. The child does not sustain even a justified relation 
to God; for the reason it has no sins from which to be 
justified. Justification is a forensic term and signifies 
to acquit one from guilt who has been adjudged 
as guilty. It is an admitted fact that the child is born 
innocent hence has no guilt, therefore needs no pardon. 

However innocent the child, it is born degenerate, 
depraved, alienated from God, and for this reason needs 
the atoning merits of Christ. 

2. On account of its degenerate and alienated con- 
dition it is void of that filial nature and filial love which 
is necessary to give it membership or sonship in the 
family of God. Whereas the person who is regenerated 
has the filial nature and filial love because “born of 
God.” 

3. Innocency of itself cannot merit heaven, conse- 
quently the child needs the atoning merit of Christ. 

It may be asked, But what if the child should die 
before it arrives at the years of accountability; what 
process must it undergo in order to enter heaven? I 
answer, that God will interpose for the child on account 
of the shed blood of Jesus Christ and regenerate and 
sanctify the child. I insist that the Biogenesis of the 
spiritual law eternally demands that all things which 
enter the kingdom of God must be “new made.” 


CHAPTER XII 


THE DEITY OF CHRIST 

The deity of Christ is a fact to be reckoned with in 
the redeeming purpose of God. Knowing that Christ is 
unlimited in His being for anyone to assert that we cannot be 
saved from all sin both in its guilt and pollution and also 
practice is wholly unwarrantable. This leads us to es- 
tablish the deity of Christ, on which the whole plan of 
salvation stands or falls. 

Christ’s miracles the result of His deity. To say that 
Christ’s miracle-working power was bestowed is utterly in- 
consistent with His acts. There are acts attributed to our 
Lord Jesus that none but a divine being could perform. 
Creative acts belong to God alone, but Christ is said to have 
created all things, therefore He must be essentially and 
properly God. “All things were made by him ; and without 
him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). 
Could there possibly be language used more suitable to 
describe the Creator? But what John said of Christ, Moses 
also said of God, in Gen. 1:1; therefore it is the more 
incontrovertible that Christ is God in the fullest and strictest 
sense. We assume that the acts of Christ could not be 
performed by anything less than infinite power. 

To assume that Christ’s miracle-working power was 
derived, or was bestowed on Him at His baptism or at 
any time is to assume that infinite power and absolute 
perfection are communicable to a subordinate being; for 
had He been divine He would have been equal to the 
Father in essence and attributes. Furthermore, to 

147 


148 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

assume that Christ’s miracle-working power was be- 
stowed upon Him is to assume that Christ is less than 
God. And this we will never admit. Of this delegated 
theory Dr. Clarke says, “God is said to have created all 
things, and here Christ is said to have created all things. 
The same unerring spirit speaks in Moses as in the 
Evangelist, therefore Christ and the Father are one. 
To say Christ made all things by a delegated power 
from God is absurd, because the thing is impossible. 
Creation means, causing that to exist that had no previ- 
ous being. This is evidently a work that can be effected 
only by omnipotence. Now God cannot delegate His 
omnipotence to another. Were this possible He to whom 
this omnipotence was delegated would in consequence 
become God, and He from whom it was delegated would 
cease to be such ; for it is impossible that there should be 
two omnipotent beings.” 

Furthermore it stands to reason that as God’s natural 
attributes are incommunicable, such as omnipotence, 
omniscience, and omnipresence, therefore they could not 
be bestowed upon our Lord Jesus Christ. “According 
to this reasoning,” says Prof. Stuart, “the Bible every- 
where appeals to creative power as the peculiar and dis- 
tinguishing prerogative of the supreme God, and attributes 
it solely to Jehovah. Read Gen. 2:2, 3; Ex. 20: 11 ; Psa. 
8:3, 4 ; Isa. 40. And onward where God by His prophets 
makes a most solemn challenge to all polytheists to 
bring the subjects of their worship into competition with 
Him, and declares Himself to be distinguished from them 
all by His being the Creator of the ends of the earth 
(v. 28) : and by His having formed and arranged (v. 26). 
Can it be made plainer than these passages make it, that 
creative power was regarded by the Hebrew prophets 
as the appropriate and peculiar attribute of the supreme 
God? The Old Testament is filled with passages which 


THE DEITY OF CHRIST 


149 


ascribe the work of creation to Jehovah alone. Who 
does not find them everywhere intermixed in the most 
delightful and effecting manner, with all the instructions 
of the sacred Hebrew writers?” ( Comprehensive Com.) 

The apostle John, knowing that the Jews had 
adopted this notion of Jehovah, declared that Christ pos- 
sessed this peculiar attribute of creative power, by say- 
ing, “All things were made by him, and without him 
was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3). 
That is, all things were made by Him, not as a subor- 
dinate, but as a co-ordinate being with God. He made 
the world. Matthew Henry says, “God the Father did 
nothing without Him in that work. Now this proves 
that He is God, for He that built all things is God” 
(Heb. 3:4). Now He who created the world must be 
divine, and if truly divine, by parative reason Christ 
having created the world is consequently God. There- 
fore He inherently possessd all power in heaven and in 
earth. Hence to say a power was added unto Him He did 
not possess is ridiculous in the extreme. 

Such a system of absurdities carries with it many 
detached, bungled imaginations and conjectures. If we 
were to reject Christ's divine person and fail to appre- 
hend His own inherent divine power it would produce 
a prevailing degeneracy in our Christian religion and 
ultimately land us in the quagmire of Gnosticism, which is 
nothing less than Unitarianism. But how uplifting is 
that system of religion which derives its constitution 
from Him who is the fountain of eternal life. “For in 
him was life; and the life was the light of men.” Not 
natural life simply, but eternal life is in Him; not by 
impartation, but by incarnation; for if it had been by 
impartation it would have been separable from Him, but 
being by incarnation it was a part of Him. For we are 
scripturally informed that the mode of the existence of 


150 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

this divine life is the same in the Son as it is in the 
Father. John 5 '.26, “For as the Father hath life in him- 
self, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." 
The term, “hath he given to the Son to have life," does 
not signify Christ’s inferiority to the Father, or that 
eternal life was bestowed on Him, but simply shows His 
official relation to the Father as mediator. Jacobus in 
his notes on this passage says, “This appointment does 
not make Christ inferior to the Father, for it was an 
official appointment as Mediator, showing only the rela- 
tion which He sustained to the Father in His work, and 
this appointment to such a work implies a capacity in 
Him to exercise the office, and this capacity must prove 
Him to be divine. None but God would be capable of 
exercising such an office." 

Again, to say that Christ possessed His miracle- 
working power by donation is virtually saying that 
Christ wrought His miracles instrumentally, which would 
land us in Philo’s system, as held also by the philosophiz- 
ing Jews, who held that the Logos created the world in- 
strumentally. But, according to the apostolic theory, 
Christ created the world and wrought His miracles im- 
mediately and efficiently. “All things were made by 
him, and without him was not anything made that was 
made" (John 1:3). The Socinians, to escape the force 
of John’s language in ascribing to Christ creative power, 
instead of reading, “All things were made by him," make 
the text read, “All things were done by him,” thus mak- 
ing Him a kind of subordinate divinity, lodged in the 
hands of the Almighty to execute His plans. Those who 
adopt the theory that Christ received His miracle-work- 
ing power at His baptism or at any time are forced into 
the same ridiculous position with the Socinians, making 
Christ a kind of potentated Moses, a mere pure man 
endowed with extraordinary powers. 


THE DEITY OF CHRIST 


151 

The miracles of Jesus were signs or heavenly seals 
to His Godhead. His miracle-working power was not in 
common with other men, such as the prophets and 
apostles, for the reason that He did not work His mir- 
acles instrumentally, but directly and efficiently by His 
own creative power. 

Schaff, in speaking of Christ’s personal efforts, says : 
“He speaks from divine intuition, as one who not only 
knows the truth, but is the truth; and with an authority 
that commands absolute submission. . . . ‘His character 
and life were originated and sustained in spite of circum- 
stances with which no earthly force could have contended 
and therefore must have had their real foundation in a force 
which was preternatural and divine’ ” ( Person of Christy 
page 23). Then is it not conclusive, according to this 
statement, that the real foundation of Christ’s miracle- 
working power flowed from His own person, on account 
of His Godhead? If so, the miracles of Christ were not 
the results of His anointing at His baptism in Jordan, but 
the indispensable and inevitable results of His divinity. 
They were the necessary and natural occurrences, so to 
speak, which flowed from His higher being or divinity. 
He himself being God incarnate is the miracle of mir- 
acles, whose name is Wonderful. The greatest wonder 
would be if He did no miracles, for He himself is the 
fountain of miracles. He was sent “as a sign,” which 
literally means miracle. Therefore His miracles flowed 
from Him as a natural result. In this we apprehend the 
fruit after its own kind; Christ being the embodiment 
of miracles, from Him flow miracles. He is the divine 
tree on which grows miraculous fruit. As is the root 
so are the branches. 

Trench, Archbishop of Dublin, says: “He, Christ, 
must, of the necessity of His higher being, bring forth 
these works greater than man’s” (see his Notes on the 


152 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

Miracles). If the miracles of Christ came out of the 
necessity of His higher being (divine nature), then they 
did not come as a result of His anointing, but they flowed 
from His divine being as water flows from a fountain. 
Furthermore, the miracles of our Lord were the natural 
occurrences which followed His Messianic work and 
formed the unbroken circle of which His divine nature 
was the sole foundation. “They are,” says Trench, “the 
periphery of that circle whereof He is the center. The 
great miracle is the incarnation. All else, so to speak, 
follows naturally and of course. It is no wonder that 
He whose name is Wonderful (Isa. 9:6) does works of 
wonder; the only wonder would be if He did them not. 
The sun in the heavens is itself a wonder, but it is not 
a wonder that being what it is, it rays forth its effluences 
of light and heat. These miracles are the fruit after its 
kind — which the divine Tree brings forth” ( Notes on the 
Miracles ). Is it any wonder, then, that Jesus Christ 
who is God manifested in the flesh, should, out of His 
own being, work miracles? 

Now the miracles of Christ being His great distinc- 
tion we are shut up to this conclusion, viz., to dif- 
ferentiate between the miracles of Christ and those of 
the prophets and apostles. First, it is scripturally plain 
that the miracles of the prophets and apostles were pro- 
duced by the direct and immediate power of God. They 
were not even the instrumental cause, much less the 
efficient cause. They stood by, it is true, and uttered a 
few words, not in their own name, but in the name of God 
or Christ. God, in order to secure for them that atten- 
tion and respect due to them as His faithful ambas- 
sadors, wrought miracles in their behalf by His own 
immediate power. But not so with Jesus. He, from 
His own divine intuition, went about working miracles 
as IT’s easy and ordinary employment. To the raging 


THE DEITY OF CHRIST 


153 


winds and sea He said, “Peace, be still/* and instantly 
there was a great calm. To the leper He said, “I will, 
be thou clean ; and immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” 
To another He said, “Thy sins be forgiven thee,” and 
his sins were remitted. Now, who but God alone could 
perform such divine acts? These were redeeming acts, 
such as none but God alone can do. 

The miracles of Christ were prophetically pro- 
claimed : “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee 
a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like 
unto me; unto him ye shall hearken” (Deut. 18:15; Mai. 
3:1; Isa. 61 : 1, 2, 3). In view of the Messianic proph- 
ecy the Jews looked for such signs as would charac- 
terize the person of whom their prophets spoke. Is it 
not evident that our Lord Jesus Christ by His miracles 
displayed His character — fulfilling prophecy? So impres- 
sive were His miracles as signs of His Messianic charac- 
ter that the multitude enthusiastically cried out, “This 
is of a truth the prophet that should come into the world.” 
And so exactly did His miracles conform to those of their 
looked-for Messiah that they were ready to install 
Him as their king. Our Lord’s miracles were valuable 
signs and heavenly pledges, not so much for what they 
were, for they reached infinitely beyond themselves and 
indicated the grace, person, and power of the donor, and 
tht relation He sustained to a higher world. The miracles 
of the prophets and apostles were signs indicating their 
religious character and the relation they sustained to 
God as His messengers. But the miracles of Christ in- 
dicated something infinitely greater: they were seals of 
His infinite power, indicating His Godhead; they were not 
acts by which He claimed to be divinely attended as a 
messenger of God. This the prophets and apostles 
claimed as a proof of their divine commission. They 
were the credentials of Moses as Israel’s deliverer. Ex. 


154 THE redeeming purpose of god 

7:9, 10 : “When Pharoah shall speak unto you, saying, 
Shew a miracle for you : then thou shalt say unto Aaron, 
Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharoah, and it shall 
become a serpent. . . . and they did so as the Lord had 
commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pha- 
roah, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.” 
Miracles were also seals of apostleship. “Truly the 
signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all pa- 
tience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds” (II Cor. 
12 :i2). These miracles or signs attested the truthfulness 
of the doctrine of the prophets and apostles, and also 
their divine commission. 

It is true that the miracles of Christ attested all 
this, but it is also true to a demonstration that they 
attested infinitely more, viz., His Godhead. Therefore 
He appeals to His acts as evident tokens of His Godhead. 
“If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not” 
(John 10:37). Literally, “If I work such works, which 
are evidently divine and which none but God could 
do, I claim your confidence and belief in me as God. 
If my works are works of omnipotence, which manifest 
my divine attributes, it proves me to be Gdd as my 
Father’s works prove Him to be God.” This remarkable 
statement proves that the miracle-working power of 
Christ could in no sense be the mere partaking of divine 
qualities by the fulness of the Holy Spirit dwelling in 
Him. Nowhere in Scripture is it said that absolute 
power was given to Christ on account of the fulness 
of the Spirit dwelling in Him. But the Scriptures directly 
or indirectly constantly affirm that the miracles of Christ 
were the legitimate results of His divinity. They were 
absolutely His own divine acts; hence it would be absurd 
to say that His miracle-working power flowed from the 
baptism of the Holy Ghost. They were a divine work for 
a divine end, namely, leading up to the crowning act 


THE DEITY OF CHRIST 


155 


of redemption, the sacrificial offering of our Lord. On 
this important point we subjoin a note from the works 
of Jacobus on John 10:37: “If I do not the works of 
my Father, the very works that my Father does. These 
are works of omnipotence and of all divine attributes, 
and this proves Him to be God, as God is proved by His 
works. He attributes to Himself the same omnipotence 
which He attributes to the Father, and the same almighty 
work of defending and securing His people to the end, 
which proves that He and His Father are one.” Now by 
no legitimate mode of right reasoning or proper inter- 
pretation of Scripture can it be shown that omnipotent 
power can be communicated. Therefore we are driven 
from that false notion that Christ received His miracle- 
working power at His baptism. 

Dr. Adam Clarke says of John 10:36, 37, “And when 
as God I have wrought miracles which could be per- 
formed by no power less than that of omnipotence, I 
desire you to believe only on the evidence of my works ; 
if I do not such works as God only can perform, then 
believe me not.” If this Scripture and the foregoing 
statements prove anything, they unquestionably prove 
that Christ appealed to His miracles as an attestation 
of His Godhead, and not simply that He was divinely 
favored as a messenger of God. For all of God’s mes- 
sengers are accompanied with heavenly seals indicating 
divine favor. It would be just as fallacious to say that 
Christ worked miracles and forgave sins by power flow- 
ing from the baptism of the Holy Ghost as it would be 
to attribute the works of God to a delegated power, since 
Christ is equal with God in essence and attributes. 
Christ in His Messianic office executes His work per- 
sonally and directly. He speaks and works not as other 
prophets, but from an intuitive consciousness of infalli- 
bility. He does not say, as other prophets, “The word 


I56 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

of the Lord came unto me, saying,” but out of His own 
immediate divine intuition says, “Verily, verily, I say 
unto thee ,, (John 3:3). “I am the way, the truth, and 
the life” (John 14:6). “I am the resurrection, and the 
life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet 
shall he live” (John 11:2^). “I am the light of the world” 
(John 9:5). “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). 
These acts are such as none but a divine being perform. 

“These statements and many others,” says the Rev. 
Elliott, “which might be adduced show clearly tha(t 
Christ drew His teachings from the fulness of His own 
divine nature” ( Christus Mediator, page 106). But it 
was not so with the prophets and apostles. They preface 
their statements thus: “I, therefore, the prisoner of the 
Lord”; “James, a servant of God”; “In the name of 
Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” Peter said 
to a lame man, “Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.” “The 
word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Thus saith the 
Lord.” It is declared that the prophets “spake as they 
were moved by the Holy Ghost.” But not so with Christ. 
He spake from His own infallible being. Nowhere in the 
Scripture does it say that Christ was moved to inspira- 
tion, or to perform miracles through the power of the 
Holy Ghost. Rev. Elliott says, “Christ spake in all His 
utterances as one who had authority, with a conscious- 
ness of infallibility.” 

In the incident of the resurrection of Lazarus (see 
St. John, chap. 11) Christ shows that He worked this 
miracle immediately and efficiently from His own divine 
power. He appeals to no being higher than Himself, but 
with His almighty words speaks Lazarus from the dead : 
“Lazarus, come forth”; and Lazarus came forth. How 
could it be otherwise, since He that was the life and 
the resurrection bade the dead, by His divine authority, 


THE DEITY OF CHRIST 


157 


“Come forth”? For He had declared that “they that 
hear his voice shall live.” Augustine says of Lazarus, 
“He called Lazarus by name, lest He should bring out 
all the dead.” Christ Himself has said that in the great 
resurrection morn He will bid all the dead to live and 
they shall come forth, some to everlasting life, and some 
to shame and everlasting contempt. Jacobus says of 
this miracle-working power of Christ, “He does not say, 
in my Father’s name come forth; or, Father, raise him; 
but, throwing off the whole appearance of one praying, 
He proceeds to show His power by His acts. Who can 
doubt that it was by His almighty power?” Then if it 
was by His own almighty power it certainly could not 
be the power flowing from the baptism of the Holy 
Ghost. 

Bishop Hall says of the miracle-working power of 
Christ, “His word made all, His word will repair all. 
Let us cast away all difficult fears. He in whom we trust 
is omnipotent” ( Comprehensive Com., page 734). Fear 
not, reader; we are not trusting in a nominal God, whose 
power is derived from another. No, no; for He Himself 
is “God over all.” Dr. Clarke, in speaking of the resur- 
rection of Lazarus, says: “Behold the man in his deep, 
heart-felt trouble and in his flowing tears, but when he 
says, Lazarus, come forth, behold the God; and the God 
too of infinite clemency, love and power” (Com. on John 
11:37). Schaff says of the miracles of Christ, “They 
combine all the features of a divine character.” Now 
it stands to reason if the miracles of Christ were the 
features of His divine character, they certainly were not 
the features of a delegated power. Schaff says, “He 
[Jesus] wrought His miracles because He was the 
Savior. His miracles belong to His office as Savior.” And 
I would add, He was inducted into His office because of 
His divine fitness to perform the functions due to that 


158 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

office. Then His miracles were inseparable from His 
Messianic office, and not the effects of the mere sympathy 
of Christ for suffering humanity. “His miracles belong 
to His office as Savior,” says Schaff, “otherwise He would 
not have cured some blind people and lepers and raised 
three persons from the dead, etc.; He would have de- 
stroyed all blindness, all leprosy — death itself, forever. 
For what purpose, then, were the miracles wrought? By 
this means He revealed Himself as one who had the 
power of curing the spiritually blind and mute ; the 
spiritual leper and palsy-stricken as one who had the 
power of delivering souls from Satan and freeing them 
from the eternal death which threatened them. Each 
group of His miracles illustrates a special side of that 
work of spiritual deliverance which He came to 
accomplish. 

“But this is not all. When he extends His 
miraculous power to nature proper, stilling the storm, 
multiplying the loaves, etc., He reveals Himself not only 
as the curer of moral miseries of humanity, but also as 
the future restorer of nature itself, and proves that He 
has the power of establishing perfect harmony between 
the whole universe and a sanctified humanity” (Vol. II, 
pages 15, 23, and 24). This statement sets forth the 
proper person of Christ in His relation to the physical 
and moral universe, in restoring not only the human 
family, but also the physical universe to its normal state. 
Now is it not true to a demonstration, that none but an 
omnipotent being could accomplish such results? 

The working of miracles is a prerogative which God 
has reserved to Himself. “He alone doeth wonders.” In 
this and in other passages we see that God is the direct 
agency in working miracles. Rev. Brown says, “No 
other power was exerted in producing them [miracles] 
than the immediate creating power of God.” Therefore 


THE DEITY OF CHRIST 


159 


Christ was not the instrumental cause in producing His 
miracles, but was Himself the direct, sole, and efficient 
agent. “Therefore hath God, ,, says Trench, “reserved to 
Himself a power of miracles as a prerogative.” Is it not 
conclusive then, that if God reserved to Himself the 
power of working miracles exclusively then He did not 
in any sense delegate to Christ miracle-working power? 
But to assume that Christ received His miracle-working 
power at His baptism is virtually to assume that God 
delegated to Him omnipotence, which is a thing utterly 
impossible. Trench affirms that Christ’s miracle-work- 
ing power is innate, for he says, “powers which He held, 
not from another (not, so much as from the in- 
dwelling of the Holy Ghost, abstractly considered), but 
such as were evidently His own in fee,” and cites the 
reader to the works of Tertullian and Eusebius as a 
parallelism with his statements, and of the first writer 
says, “urges this well,” and of the latter says, “traces 
in the same way” (see Notes on the Miracles). Thus 
we are informed that the fathers of the early church 
taught that Christ’s miracle-working power was in- 
herent and was so by virtue of His divinity and not on 
account of His anointing. “We must be content to be- 
hold in this multiplying of the bread,” says Trench, “an 
act of divine omnipotence.” Trench further says of 
Christ’s miracle-working power, “the Son working with 
infinite power, and with power not lent Him, but His 
own, did all with much superabundance.” Therefore 
Christ was naturally capable by His own infinite power 
to produce the most stupendous miracles, even to the for- 
giving of sins, which is a prerogative that belongs to 
God alone. In speaking of Christ remitting sins, Trench 
says, “Had He who in His own name declared ‘Thy sins 
be forgiven thee’ been less than the only begotten Son 
of the Father, the sharer in the prerogatives of the God- 


i6o 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


head, He would indeed have spoken blasphemy, as they 
(Jews) deemed. ,, (See his Notes on the Miracles.) 

Reader, if Christ, the second person in the Trinity, 
is the sharer in all the prerogatives of the Godhead, 
what folly to assume and affirm that there was added 
unto Him a power that He did not possess, at His baptism 
in the Jordan. 

The miracles of Christ were not only to authenticate 
His mission, but to fix the seals of His own infallible 
authority upon His lifework and doctrines. The truth- 
fulness of the foregoing statement is fully established 
upon Christ’s own divine authority. To the caviling 
Jews He said, “If I do not the works of my Father, be- 
lieve me not” (John 10:37). This decisive testimony 
of Christ effectually proves that His miracles were a 
proof of His Deity. Just as men evince their legitimate 
character by what they do, “for by their fruit ye shall 
know them”; so our Lord Jesus calls the attention of 
these obstinate infidel Jews to the character of His works 
as an attestation of His Deity. If I do not the works, 
not similar works, but the very identical works of my 
Father. If I do not such works as none but an omnip- 
otent being can do, believe me not; but if I do such 
works as none but an infinite being can perform, then 
believe me to be the Son of God. He does not lay claim 
to being allied to God on account of His benevolent works 
— the prophets and apostles did — but He lay claim to the 
Godhead by His divine acts. The apostles worked their 
miracles in the power and name of Christ, but our Lord 
performed His miracles by His own power. 

The miracle-working power of Christ was not His 
by communication but by intuition for “in him dwelt all 
the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” This is a Hebrew- 
ism and signifies that in Christ dwelt the Deity, not by 
impartation, as some would have us believe, but by divine 


THE DEITY OF CHRIST 


161 


incarnation. In verse 30 Christ claims an equality with 
the Father, not simply concurring in the will of God. 
This the prophets and apostles did. He is more than a 
deputy or a simple messenger of God, for He declares, 
“I and my Father are one.” This statement undeniably 
implies a unity of power and essence or nature. This 
is the only legitimate inference we can deduce from 
our Lord’s statement. St. Chrysostom says of this text, 
“And if the power be the same, the essence must be so.” 
Then this divine nature which is essential to God with 
which Christ is invested through the fulness of the 
Godhead, on account of the divine incarnation, was not 
communicated or derived, neither was it by the unity 
of the power of the Spirit by which He was enabled 
to perform works which were properly divine acts; but 
because of the union of the divine Logos to the human 
nature. Therefore we assume and affirm that Christ 
is God on the evidence of His works, for the reason that 
no person less than an infinite being could have per- 
formed such works as He did — raising the dead, healing 
the lepers, forgiving sins, increasing the loaves and 
fishes, and also walking upon the water. “If Jesus 
Christ were not God,” says Dr. Adam Clarke, “could He 
have said these words without being guilty of blas- 
phemy ?” 

Furthermore, this oneness of Christ with the Father 
does not simply imply a oneness of unity, of will, and 
of plan with the Father, but oneness in all the operations 
of those divine attributes of which He is possessed as 
“God over all, blessed for evermore.” In verse 28 Christ 
claims to possess omnipotence in the protection of His 
people, for the Jews so understood Him. “Therefore 
they took up stones to stone him, because he made him- 
self equal with God.” It is the more evident tha,t 
Christ intended to convey the idea that He was not only 


162 the redeeming purpose of god 

one in counsel and plan with the Father, but one in 
essence or nature and attributes, for He repeatedly made 
such declarations as would lead any one to believe that 
His intention was to impress the Jews that He was truly 
and essentially God. The foregoing passages are clear 
in confirmation of this statement. “I give unto them 
eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any 
man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:28). “No man 
is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand” (verse 
29). “I and my Father are one” (verse 30). These ex- 
pressions of our Lord prove that He and the Father are 
one in unity of nature and of all divine attributes, and 
were also united in redeeming and preserving the 
church. He then was not simply filled with a bestowal 
of gifts and of superhuman power, on account of His 
anointing, but He was Himself the fountain of every 
good and perfect gift. 

Dr. Clarke says of this text (verse 30), “Are one 
in nature, one in all the attributes of the Godhead, and 
one in all the operations of these attributes; and so it 
is evident the Jews understood Him.” Jacobus says of 
the same passage, “He asserts the great truth that He 
and His Father are one, the essential unity of the Father 
and Son in the Godhead. He claims the same omnipo- 
tence as the Father” (see Notes on John). Then the 
natural conclusion would be, as omnipotence is incom- 
municable, therefore Christ must have possessed His 
omnipotence by virtue of His being divine, and not on 
account of His being anointed with the Holy Spirit at 
His baptism. Again Jacobus says, of verse 37, “The 
very works that my Father does, these are works of 
omnipotence, and of all divine attributes, and this proves 
Him to be God as God is proved by His works. This 
is the very point which He had urged in the words 
which so offended them [Jews], namely, that He attrib- 


THE DEITY OF CHRIST 163 

uted to Himself the same omnipotence which He at- 
tributed to the Father, and the same almighty work of 
defending and succoring His people to the end, which 
proves that He and His Father were one.” Now if 
Christ wrought such works as were evidently divine, they 
were such as none but God could do. Therefore He 
claimed their confidence as God. Then, reader, is it 
not evident that Christ wrought His miracles, not by 
a delegated power, but by His own almighty power? Is 
it not also conclusive beyond question that the miracle- 
working power of Christ was not derived by the mere 
partaking of divine qualities on account of the Holy 
Spirit dwelling in Him, but by virtue of His Godhead? 

Again, our Lord Jesus vindicates His claim to the 
Godhead by His miraculous act in walking on the water 
(Mark 6:18; John 6:19). This miracle is an act of om- 
nipotence, therefore it attests His infallible authority. 
Furthermore, Christ in this narrative lays claim to the 
Godhead by word of mouth, “It is I” — literally, “I am.” 
This recalls the ancient name by which Jehovah was 
known (Ex. 3:14): “And God said unto Moses, I AM 
THAT I AM ; and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the 
children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” This 
signifies I am He that exists, and implies self-existence, 
independence, unchangeableness, incomprehensibility, 
eternity, and absolute perfection. Christ proposed to 
teach His disciples that He was the all-sufficient fountain 
from which they were to derive their existence and help. 
It further signifies, not merely that I was, but I am and 
will be the same, yesterday, today, and forever. “I am 
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first 
and the last.” 

We are again reminded that the Jehovah of the 
Old Testament is the Christ of the New. “I am the 
first and the last : I am he that liveth, and was dead ; and, 


164 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

behold, I am alive for evermore.” There are no dif- 
ficulties that can obstruct the path of our Lord Jesus. 
I am He who increased the loaves and fishes, and I am 
He who possesses at all times that same almighty power, 
and even now say unto these raging waves, “Peace, be 
still,” and there is a great calm. Job, in speaking of the 
omnipotence of God, says (9:8), “and treadeth upon the 
waves of the sea.” 

This chapter has been written to disprove the false 
notion that Jesus Christ in His state of humility emptied 
Himself of His deity; and also the theory that He was a 
mere man. There are many modern cults which have 
grown out of these two radical errors, such as the material- 
istic views of Russellism; and the absurdities of “Chris- 
tian Science,” falsely so called. The deity of Christ is a 
vital issue, for the following reasons: (1) The Deity of 
Jesus is the cornerstone of Christianity; (2) To deny the 
deity of Jesus is high treason against Christianity; (3) It 
is tainted with disbelief in the supernatural ; (4) The 

main argument is not conclusive, and the theory has no 
satisfactory explanation of the incarnation and of the 
shed blood of Jesus Christ; (5) It is an attempt to wave 
aside the testimony of Christ and His apostles ; (6) The 
extreme theory which denies the deity of Christ makes His 
own teaching and that of the apostles all spurious; (7) 
The advocates of these theories do not distinguish be- 
tween the facts that Christ and the apostles taught rela- 
tive to the deity of Christ and mere inferences which they 
have drawn from what Jesus and the apostles taught; (8) 
These theories weakened the authority of Christ and of 
the apostles, and the standard of faith is thus lowered; 
(9) The infinite virtue of the atonement lies in the deity 
of Jesus Christ, as Dr. Adam Clarke says, “Take deity out 
of the redeeming work and redemption is ruined”; (10) 
Denial of Christ's deity means an emasculated atonement. 


CHAPTER XIII 


THE SONSHIP OF JESUS 

The miraculous birth of the Son of God, our blessed 
Savior, has become the storm-center of controversy in the 
realm of biblical criticism. Many modern divines have 
triumphantly announced that our Lord Jesus was not 
miraculously born of a virgin. 

Professor Harnack and Paul Lobstein are men of 
distinguished scholarship. They tell us “there is very 
serious disquietude” and a “widespread unsettlement” 
“in regard to the doctrine of the virgin birth.” Learn- 
ing without prudence is like a flambeau in the hand of a 
blind man. It is rather destructive than constructive. 
We need sound common sense as well as the ability to 
read dead languages, else we shall reach no settled and 
well-grounded conclusion on any subject. When men 
deny the miraculous birth of our blessed Lord they are 
treading upon dangerous ground. 

The miraculous birth of Jesus cannot be gotten rid 
of by denying its reality. These philosophical vagaries 
will never remove the divine reality, namely, that Jesus 
was miraculously conceived of the Holy Ghost in the 
womb of the virgin. If language has any reliable mean- 
ing the New Testament unquestionably teaches that the 
humanity of Jesus was a divine production. Read Matt, 
i : i 8-20, Luke 1 130-35. These and like Scripture is the 
key to the situation. 

To deny the miraculous birth of Jesus is to deny 
His personal advent to earth. If Jesus was not incar- 


i66 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


nated according to the Scriptures, He has not made His 
appearance on earth. 

Let us consider the import of the title, “The only 
begotten Son” (John i :i8, 3:16). These texts certainly 
indicate the miraculous conception or literally, the prod- 
uct of our Lord's human nature. I do not say it is 
restricted to His humanity; I also think it has reference 
to the relation which our Lord sustained from eternity 
to the Father. The phrase “only begotten” may apply to 
our Lord’s complex nature. But the title certainly 
applies to His miraculous conception. 

The human nature of Jesus was a divine produc- 
tion; this we assume in a most positive sense. It was 
announced to Mary, the mother of our Lord, “The Holy 
Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the High- 
est shall overshadow thee : therefore also that holy 
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son 
of God” (Luke 1:35). “That holy thing” or person is 
given the appellation, “the Son of God.” Here the 
sacred Scripture positively affirms this particular child, 
begotten by the energy of the Holy Ghost, which was 
in due time born of the virgin, was the “only begotten 
Son of God.” 

To deny the existence of such a relation between 
Jesus Christ, our Lord, and God the Father, or to affix 
to the term “Son of God” or “Son of Mary” the natural 
mode of human production, is socinianized infidelity. 
Dr. Adam Clarke says, “The only begotten of the Father, 
that is, the only person born of a woman, whose nature 
never came by the ordinary creation, it being a mere 
creation in the womb of the virgin by the energy of the 
Holy Ghost.” John 1 : 14 . The august progeny of the 
virgin is called “the Son of God” because of His mirac- 
ulous conception as well as His divine filiation. 

We are told, To say that the human nature of 


THE SONSHIP OF JESUS 


167 


Christ, which was miraculously formed in the womb of 
the virgin, is upon account of that miraculous concep- 
tion called the “Son of God” is to make a person of it, 
and to divide Christ into two persons, which is Nestori- 
anism. This is good rhetoric, but bad theology. This 
false philosophy is for the want of knowing or rather a 
confessed ignorance of facts. The unity of the person 
of Christ is indissoluble. The inseparable union of the 
human and the divine natures is the result of the incar- 
nation. The two natures constitute but the one person. 
The human had no independent personality aside from the 
incarnation ; for the reason the divine nature is the basis 
of our Lord’s personality. Therefore, the incarnation is 
the result of this supernatural person who is called the 
“only begotten Son of God.” 

Philosophical speculation or modern babbling 
respecting the divine production of our Lord’s humanity 
cannot enter into the subject, for the reason the Scrip- 
tures admit miracles; sceptics will not. 

“The only begotten of the Father” is an incontest- 
able proof that Jesus was the Son of God by begetting. 
Futhermore, a logic of facts force us to conclude if Jesus 
was begotten of God, the Father, He certainly was not 
begotten by a man. 

The necessity of this conclusion is further evidenced 
by the following Scripture, “Before they came together, 
she [Mary] was found with child of the Holy Ghost,” 
“for that which is conceived in her is of the 
Holy Ghost,” The unborn human nature of Jesus 
is called a “holy thing” and is said to have 
been created in the womb of the virgin by the power 
of the Holy Ghost. Therefore the paternity of the 
first person of the Godhead must have originated or re- 
sulted from the divine incarnation ; else we cannot ex- 
plain the designation, “Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” 


i68 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


on the one hand, and “the only begotten of the Father” 
or “only begotten Son of God” on the other. 

Once more, if the paternity of God the Father be 
not admitted in the incarnation then there can be no 
distinction between the relation of the first and second 
persons of the Trinity. But we have the most palpable 
proof of the paternal relation when we consider that 
God the Father “spared not his own Son,” His incarnate 
son. Withdraw the doctrine of the sonship and the 
narrative of the virgin birth of Jesus would become 
totally obscure. 

It may be advantageously borne in mind as a further 
proof of the miraculous birth of Christ, when we consider 
it is certain that the virgin (the mother of our Lord) 
understood this in a very peculiar sense, when Christ 
was called the “Son of God.” She understood it to 
imply positively that the child Jesus born of her was 
the Son of God because begotten by God the Father; 
not begotten by Joseph. Furthermore, if Mary, the 
mother of our Lord, was wrong she never attempted to 
correct it. This at once positively admits the super- 
human begetting of the Son of God. 

John 9:35, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” 
“The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I 
Pet. 1:3). These statements are made without qualifi- 
cation or explanation, which supply a satisfactory evi- 
dence that the title “Son of God” or similar expressions 
were currently understood. 

The acknowledgment and unanimous confession of 
the disciples equally show that the title “Son of God” 
was currently understood. “Then they that were in the 
ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou 
art the Son of God” (Matt. 14:33). “Thou art the Christ, 
the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). By parity of 
reason these quotations show in what sense the disci- 


THE SONSHIP OF JESUS 


I69 


pies apprehended the relation that Christ as the Son of 
God sustained to the Father. As a matter of fact Christ 
Himself alleged that He was the Son of God. 

“I come in my Father’s name.” “My Father work- 
eth hitherto, and I work.” “The Son can do nothing of 
himself, but what he seeth the Father do.” “That the 
Son of God might be glorified thereby.” Again, “For 
God so loved the word, that he gave his only begotten 
Son.” “For God sent not his Son into the world to 
condemn the world.” 

Here the Son of the Most High beyond doubt alleges 
that God is His Father. That is, the Son of God is the 
illustrious begetting of God the Father. 

In conclusion: We have shown by the narrative of 
the birth of Christ that He was begotten of the 
Father; hence the impossibility of His being begotten 
by a man. We have indisputably shown that it was a 
fixed belief with the virgin, the mother of our Lord, 
that “that holy thing” born of her was by the impreg- 
nating influence of the Holy Spirit; therefore she had 
a just right to assume that her illustrious progeny was 
“the Son of God.” 

The virgin had just reason for such an assumption. 
First, because the angel had informed her that she 
should conceive a son without human agency. Second, 
that this particular son should be called the Son of the 
Most High; hence, not Joseph’s son. Third, the angel 
also explained the circumstance of her conception by 
saying, “The Floly Ghost shall come upon thee, and the 
power of the Highest shall overshadow thee.” That is, 
the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and by His energy 
render thee prolific. I give the Virgin Mary credit for 
having sense enough to know when and where this 
transaction took place. Christ and the apostles assure 
us that He was the “Son of God.” This is the sum of 


170 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

the whole conclusion. Reason allows that it may be 
true ; the Holy Scriptures assure us that it is true. 

The eternal Son of God, the second person in the 
Godhead, took human nature that all who possess that na- 
ture might be redeemed. He was human that He might 
shed blood; He was divine that His blood might possess 
infinite merit. 

He took our flesh that He might be the representa- 
tive son in the divine family; He took our nature that He 
might be the Elder Brother to all those who are redeemed 
by Him. 

The apostle Paul postulates the above propositions 
in Hebrews 2:10-18: 

“For it became him, for whom are all things, and by 
whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to 
make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffer- 
ings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sancti- 
fied are all of one : for which cause he is not ashamed to call 
them brethren. Saying, I will declare thy name unto my 
brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto 
thee. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, 
Behold I and the children which God hath given me. For- 
asmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, 
he also himself likewise took part of the same; that 
through death he might destroy him that had the power of 
death, that is, the devil : And deliver them who through fear 
of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For 
verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he 
took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things 
it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he 
might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things per- 
taining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the 
people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, 
he is able to succour them that are tempted.” 


CHAPTER XIV 


CHRIST OUR PATTERN 

We lay it down as an incontrovertible proposition 
that Christ as a pattern or model is fundamental to 
Christianity. The example of Christ is the one supreme 
directive or regulative idea of Christian character and 
conduct. In Christianity we must use some standard if 
we are to perceive discriminatingly or reach any well- 
defined or consistent conclusion. To compare different 
religious theories with one another without some ac- 
cepted standard we can never fix upon any valuable point 
of truth. Therefore, we unhesitatingly declare Christ to 
be the standard of comparison and measurement in moral 
character and Christian conduct. Without Christ as the 
all comparative pattern, religious character and conduct 
is varied and shifting. The contradictory, meaningless, 
unintelligible lives among so many professors of religion 
cannot be accounted for other than the want of pattern- 
ing after Christ. The true, humble follower of Christ 
can no more alienate himself from the life of Christ than 
he can withdraw himself from his unescapeable environ- 
ment. The most lofty conception of God and the most 
excellent virtues of manhood are expressed in the person 
and life of Jesus. If anywhere we find God, we must 
find him in Christ. If anywhere we find any ideal 
righteous man living amidst human conditions, we must 
find such in the life of Christ. Since Christ is our 
pattern, each person must come to know what it is 
to be a righteous man from the standpoint of Christ. 

171 


1J2 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

To imitate Christ is one of the first fundamental truths 
taught by our Lord Himself, but if some men’s theory 
be correct then our Lord’s teaching is faulty at its very 
foundation, for the reason that in Matt. 4:19, we find that 
Christ makes Himself the one unchangeable pattern 
for all time, “Follow me.” Also John 10:27, “My sheeo 
hear my voice, and they follow me.” And again in John 
13:15, “I have given you an example.” Now to follow one 
means to pattern after, to model upon, to copy from, to 
strive to be like. To model upon means to produce the 
same semblance or likeness. Thus our Lord Jesus walked 
in advance of His people that they might pattern after 
Him. The great Shepherd of the sheep not only gave 
His life as a ransom for His sheep, but He also set an 
example for the flock. Our Lord taught by example 
true greatness in service. He also taught the lesson of 
humility and self-sacrificing, ministering love, that we 
might imitate Him. The apostles also proposed Christ 
as the pattern, I Pet. 2:21, “Christ also suffered for us, 
leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps.” It 
is certainly easier for us to follow the example of Christ 
than to discover the way for ourselves. The example of 
Christ saves us from all false visionaries. To accept the 
abstract truths of Christ without following His example 
is like feeding upon the leaves and barks of trees bear- 
ing delicious, wholesome, nutritious fruit. Moreover, we 
find it to be a cardinal doctrine, namely, that our Lord 
Jesus is the representative Son of the divine family, as 
recorded in Romans 8:29, “For whom he did foreknow, 
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image 
of his Son.” In this text we find that Christ as the 
pattern or model in the Christian religion assumes 
a place of eminence and authority in the plan of human 
redemption suited to its infinite importance. We fur- 
ther learn that God predetermined that Christ should 


CHRIST OUR PATTERN 


173 


supply the model in the divine family as the represen- 
tative Son, to which all the rest of the members must 
model upon. The grounds of admission and retention 
of privilege in the family is conformity to the image of 
the Son. That our Lord Jesus is the Savior is a fact, 
but that He also is a pattern is not less true. He came 
not only to make an atonement for sin, but also as a 
pattern to show us how to live without sin. Savior and 
pattern are both essential. As well might we say the 
head and stern of a vessel can never be two essential 
parts of a ship as to say that Christ is not the Christian’s 
pattern as well as his redeemer. Christ as a pattern 
is vital to the whole scheme of Christian religion. There- 
fore, it cannot be rejected without infinite peril to Chris- 
tianity. 

Christ as pattern is the surest safeguard against hu- 
man errors, false ideas relative to Christian character 
and conduct. Our Lord Jesus is the prototype of a per- 
fect righteous man, living amidst human conditions, 
and for this very reason He appears as such that we may 
model upon Him. In Him are all Christian virtues 
found in full perfection, and we are divinely required to 
imitate those virtues. This is a principle governing the 
whole life of Christ and His disciples, and to this very 
determination does the following Scriptures refer, “Let 
him take up his cross and follow me,” “I have given you 
an example,” “That they might be conformed to the im- 
age of his Son.” His whole life was of the purest, most 
disinterested, self-forgetting, self-offering, self-sacrific- 
ing, all-embracing love. He absolutely gave all. He 
gave Himself. He taught nothing by precept that He 
did not exemplify in His life. What He taught, that 
He exemplified. This proved the truthfulness of His 
religion and by this alone can we prove the truthfulness 
of our Christianity. Our Lord was not only the atoner 


174 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


for sin, but also exemplified by a life of sinlessness what 
atonement would do if properly applied. 

Let us again notice Christ’s relation in the heavenly 
family. It was to supply the model or pattern after which 
all the members of the divine household are to be as- 
similated. The terms of admission and retention of 
privilege in the family are all summed up in this one 
comprehensive characteristic, namely, conformity to the 
image of the Son. Christ is the true representative Son 
of God and for this reason it was suitable for Him to 
supply the pattern or model for all the sons of God, to 
model upon. The forfeited image of God is found in 
the image of His Son. We are called the sons of God in 
respect to our being conformed to the image of the rep- 
resentative Son. Christ is our elder brother that all the 
younger children might pattern after Him. Hence, we 
find that Christ is the standard or pattern of moral 
purity and conduct as well as being Savior. 


CHAPTER XV 


THE IDEAL MAN 

Jesus is man at his climax. He stands forth in 
such a bold and startling relief that the disproportions 
between man’s sinfulness and feeble humanity and His 
greatness make us wonder if we can ever attain unto the 
divine ideal. 

When we stand face to face with the standard of 
Jesus we wonder if we can attain unto the pattern He 
has set. The Christ-likeness is a high standard in 
Christian life, but hereunto are we called. Hear Him: 
“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the 
world” (John 17:16). “Follow me,” “learn of me,” 
pattern after me in character and in life, would be His 
instruction in concrete form. 

Christ is the admiration of religious astonishment; 
yet, He has no newly discovered impossibilities. He 
has announced the eternal fact that “all things are 
possible to him that believeth.” Jesus Christ requires 
nothing of man that He Himself has not practiced. 

Astonishment is founded on observation, achieve- 
ment on doing. 

The most marvelous thing after all is that since 
Christ has given Himself as a pattern for Christian 
attainment that anyone should fail to become like Him. 

Herein is the depth of perplexity, not that man 
cannot be like Christ, but that he will not be like Him. 

If men would cut loose from their wreck of human 
efforts, and do the things that are divinely appointed, 

V 5 


1^6 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

then the divine image would shine lustrously in their 
lives. In imitating Christ you must forever have done 
with the schoolboy method of copying. He copies the 
first line by imitating the original copy, then in the next 
line he copies after his own imitation, thus in the suc- 
ceeding lines it is his own imitation after imitation. 
Consequently each line is growing from bad to worse 
as he descends the page. 

Thus with professors of religion. Perhaps the first 
will imitate Christ, the second will imitate the imitator 
and so on in the descending scale of their imitation of 
their own imitation until there is no resemblance of 
Christ. 

St. Paul has long since declared that they who 
measure themselves by one another are not wise. 

I would not imitate an angel since God in His in- 
finite wisdom has made Christ the only model. 

His splendor is the very best that God Himself 
could produce. 

Christ is a constant proof of infinite wisdom, as a 
model or standard of religious requirement. Nothing 
but God’s wisdom could have produced such a model, 
and nothing short of His holiness could have required 
it. And so indispensably necessary was it that Jesus 
must become man and live a righteous man amidst 
human conditions in order to set up a religious standard 
or model after which we most pattern. Christ is God’s 
one distinctive representative religious model. 

In all the dispensations of God’s moral government, 
there is nothing in earth or heaven comparable in the 
display of Christian manhood as manifested in Jesus. 

He as a righteous man, living amidst human condi- 
tions, was the one perfect example of what all Christians 
must be. St. John postulates this fact by saying, “He 
that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk, 


THE IDEAL MAN 177 

even as he walked.” “And every man that hath this hope 
in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” 

Christ reveals God to man; and also man to him- 
self. Thus he sees what he ought to be in view of what 
Christ is. 

You may study all shades of religious character, 
compare them, recognize all that is good and noble in 
them ; and after you have gone searchingly through them 
and have tabulated the result you will find that the 
whole combined is but a dark lantern in comparison to 
the search-light of Christ. “I am the light of the world.” 
“I am the truth,” “I am the life,” “I am the way.” “No 
one cometh unto the Father but by me.” Christ deter- 
mines the exact nature and character of what all men 
should be; all else is shadowy and visionary. He is an 
object lesson of what all Christians must be. 

He is the one unique type of a righteous man, the 
authoritative guide in religion. Neither is there any 
other. It is said that Christ left no book, and that He 
did not contemplate one. May it not have been because 
He was the embodiment of infallible truth? For He de- 
clared, “I am the truth.” Then Christ Himself is a 
revelation of God, and also of ideal man. 

Behold the faultness truth, the inerrancy of infinite 
wisdom revealing the inner meaning of a higher and 
nobler manhood; and of the Fatherhood of God; how 
full of God, how full of human redemption. 

It is true he wrote no book, yet He is not a bookless 
Christ. 

He is the very embodiment of sincerity, a concrete 
certainty. He had no cloak, He borrowed no foreign 
character, but ever acted in His own. He was a right- 
eous man without a mask. He had but one object, 
namely, to reveal a true Christian; make an atonement 
for sin and glorify God. 


I?8 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

He used no means to attain this end other than those 
prescribed by God Himself. 

It is but reasonable to look for the same pure holy 
character and noble life to be exemplified in all true 
Christians. The image of God in Christ contains in 
itself the whole work of God in the soul which has been 
redeemed. Christ is the highest degree of “Christian 
perfection,” and He is so that all Christians might attain 
unto this eminent state. 

He who models upon Christ is holy in his heart, 
without any mixture of sin. He is spiritual in his de- 
votions, pure in his motives, righteous in his life, holy 
in his conversation, in trials and temptations endures as 
seeing Him who is invisible. He prayes in the Holy 
Ghost, lives to receive good and do good. It is deeds 
not creeds. He leads a holy and useful life. 

“Let none hear you idly saying, 

There is nothing I can do, 

While the souls of men are dying 
And the Master calls for you. 

Take the fasks He gives you gladly, 

Let His work your pleasure be; 

Answer quickly, when He calleth, 

Here am I, send me, send me.” 

The fixed basis of all religious reckoning is Christ. 

If we would be truly Christians we must be the tran- 
scripts of the divine pattern — Christ. To have the image 
of Christ is our only guarantee for heaven. 

God had told us of His holy character, “in our 
image,” in abstract terms as much as He could, but 
Christ appeared as the fame-excelling reality; God in 
His image shone in Christ. In the language of St. Paul: 
“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express 
image of his person.” 

The prophets saw Christ through the telescope of 


THE IDEAL MAN 179 

God’s promises, by the eye of faith, but we see Him, 
not by anticipation, but as He actually appeared. 

He by His personal advent to earth obliterates time, 
annihilates distance, and brings future things into im- 
mediate possession. 

Jesus is the ideal of righteous altruism. The only 
correct estimate of holiness of heart and life must be 
obtained from the person and life of Christ. 

His life is the norm of normal human life. You 
have not yet begun to truly live unless you have begun 
to live the Christ life. This life has been lived, and 
hence all human beings may live such a life. “For me to 
live is Christ,” says the great apostle; go thou and do 
likewise. Jesus teaches loving deeds, not creeds. 

He never fell below our ideal; He has no touch of 
disappointment. 

In Him are the loftiest conceptions of redeemed 
humanity. He exhibits the fulness and all-sufficiency of 
God’s redeeming grace. In Him there is no let or limit. 

Our most sanguine hopes, our most expectant de- 
sires, and the cravings of the immortal soul, and our 
exalted conceptions of sanctifying grace may all be 
attained in Christ. And yet it may truly be said, “The 
arrows are beyond thee,” for we can never go beyond the 
measure of the immeasurable. Jesus Himself hath truly 
said, “It is enough to be as your Master.” 




CHAPTER XVI 


DOING THE WILL OF GOD 

God demands fealty of all man. We cannot mingle 
disobedience with obedience, sin with sinlessness, purity 
with corruption. Man ceases to sin when his will be- 
comes one with the will of God. But when does man’s 
will become one with the will of God? We answer, 
right in the beginning of Christian experience. 

Regeneration is the result of two wills conjoined, 
the will of God and the will of man. If God does not 
will the redemption of man, man may not be saved; 
if man does not will to be saved he cannot be delivered 
from his sins. Obedience to God is to live without sin- 
ning against God. 

We cannot mingle sin with obedience to God, for the 
reason it is inconsistent with the divine will. Then to 
do the will of God is nothing less than the performance 
of the will of God without sinning. Doing the will of 
God partakes of the radical idea of ceasing from sin. In 
doing the will of God it is the whole man (body, soul, 
and spirit) wrapped up in one loving universal desire. 

We eagerly embrace the will of God and with a fixed 
admiration we vigorously hold fast that which is the 
object of our affection. 

Doing the will of God is a pleasing surrender of 
our will to the will of God. In fact, it is an identity 
or sameness of will. They are no longer twain, but one. 
God’s will is a sovereign preference above all others and 
which is preferred to all others; consequently, our will 

181 


1 8 2 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


cleaves to, affectionately admires, and rests satisfied in the 
will of God. Thus we are made a partaker of the divine 
nature, having the mind in us that was in Christ, thus 
dwelling in God and God in us, because we are one in 
will. 

Our will acts from God as its Author, for Him as 
its Master, and to Him as its end. Therefore, to do the 
will of God is the alpha and the omega, the beginning 
and the end, of the Christian life. Through our will all 
the powers and faculties of the soul are lovingly con- 
centrated in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Doing the will of God occupies the whole man, in all 
his powers of body, and mind, consequently all the intel- 
lect or understanding is applied to know God in all His 
fulness ; and His holy will. Therefore we receive with 
submission, gratitude, and holy delight all the sacred 
truths which God has revealed to us. The will of God 
is our directory. We form no projects, nor design, but 
in reference to God, and the gracious interest of man- 
kind. We study neither art nor science only in 
reference that we might better others with the certainty 
of bettering ourselves. 

In doing the will of God we see Him in all things ; 
we think of God at all times, having Him constantly 
fixed in our mind; thus we acknowledge God in all our 
ways. 

In doing the will of God we begin, continue, and 
end all our thoughts, words, and works to the glory of 
His name. We continually plan, scheme, and devise 
how we may best serve God and our generation more 
effectually. 

Reader, are your natural or acquired talents em- 
ployed in the service of your Master’s kingdom? Do 
you give bountifully of your temporal means as God has 
so graciously given of His bountiful grace to you? An 


DOING THE WILL OF GOD 


183 


obedient servant never does the work of his Lord sloth- 
fully. It is a fundamental principle of the gospel to be 
faithful to God is to render Him the full strength of our 
being. A faithful servant renders to God His due. This 
is a scriptural certainty ; from which we cannot get away. 
The only hope of the continuance of divine favor is faith- 
fulness. “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; 
.... enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” 


The whole conduct of religion is faithfulness in the 
discharge of a trust in that which is least and that which 
is great. “He that is faithful in that which is least 
is faithful also in much” (Luke 16:10). Then we must 
regard the whole of Christianity as fidelity to convic- 
tion in the discharge of Christian duties. 

The measure in our doing must be limited to our 
ability. This is a universal law. It extends to every 
species of moral intelligence. Hence the divine rule, 
“Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” Nothing 
less than doing the whole known will of God will satisfy 
the divine requirement. More than this God can not 
require ; and less then this He will not accept. 

No favoritism can prevail with God. He approves 
or disapproves of men according to their moral character 
and their conformity or nonconformity to His will. God 
has nothing to hope or fear from His creatures. There- 
fore He can be no “respecter of persons.” Men are swerved 
from the principles of right on account of their hopes 
and fears. Happy the man whose hopes and fears are 
centered in God alone. 

As man is an intelligent being his conduct must be 
founded on some predetermined rule, else it would for- 
ever destroy man’s dependence and accountableness to 
God. It is as ridiculous as it is absurd to assume that 


184 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

any order of intelligence is left without law to regulate 
his conduct. Man would not feel under any moral 
obligations to God or his fellow creatures unless he 
had a certain rule to regulate his conduct. The divine 
will admits of no deviations, but requires a full, perfect, 
and universal obedience, performed with all the energy 
of body and soul. 

Man owes God all the service he can perform up 
to the utmost limits of his being. Thus to live we must 
possess fidelity in spirit and a conscientiousness in the 
matter of being faithful in that which is least. If we 
possess these two essential principles in Christianity we 
will form the habit of so living as never to be con- 
scious of neglecting what is right. Furthermore we can- 
not maintain the dignity of the children of God unless 
we walk worthy of our dispensation, which requires ab- 
solute and habitual self-denial, the renunciation of all 
sin, and conformity to the image of Christ. It is one 
thing to have a rule for conduct and convictions of duty, 
but quite another thing to have fidelity to conviction so 
as to maintain the principles of right. In this age of 
religious veneer we need a courage that will toil and 
be patient. God would have us all to be true and con- 
stant to every just conviction. 

To have fidelity to your convictions of duty is the 
most manly and sacred requirement of life, when slander 
and vituperation are heaped upon your name for having 
condemned vice and upheld virtue ; stand still ; maintain 
your integrity; do right for right’s sake, pure and 
simple; for truth is destined to eternal triumph. If the 
whole universe should turn against you for having con- 
demned sin and maintained righteousness, be manly, 
and adopt Henry Clay’s old maxim, “Ask nothing but 
what is right; submit to nothing wrong.” Better by 
far have all your earthly prospects, hopes, and .ambitions 


DOING THE WILL OF GOD 185 

blasted than basely surrender truth and virtue and 
honor and innocence to the demands of the unprincipled. 

There are those who strive to atone for private 
baseness by public profession; and there are those who 
are ready to endorse such a principle; and should you 
ignore such public protestation of innocency, you will 
be assailed as being uncharitable. It is then we need 
a lofty courage in order to ally ourselves to that prin- 
ciple of right. Be right and do right at any cost. Henry 
Clay, when told that his actions on a certain measure 
would certainly injure his political prospects, replied: 
“I would rather be right than be president.” We should 
remember that great offices are not essential to per- 
petuate a good name; neither are they essential to ren- 
der honorable service to God and man. If you would 
be honored you must first be honorable. There are those 
who, like that sleek, respectable person Pilate, do base 
things and then strive to throw a respectable appearance 
around their deeds by washing their hands in mock sin- 
cerity. Such sincerity killed Christ, and many more have 
thus been slain. Pilate, like many others, had just con- 
victions, but he was wanting in fidelity. Judas, that 
black-hearted traitor, was more honorable than Pilate; 
for he made all the atonement he could for his deed ; did 
what many in this age will not do — carried back the 
price of his guilt and fell down dead — or rather went and 
hanged himself. But Pilate kept the fruit of his bar- 
gain. Pilate had just convictions concerning Christ; he 
knew Jesus to be a pure and innocent man; but instead 
of protecting the innocent he had a pretended settlement 
with Herod. They shook hands, sat down and consulted 
upon the easiest method of killing Christ. 

When we see bad men professing much regard for 
each other, the right of some one is to be betrayed, some 
wrong is to be committed, some crime justified. When 


1 86 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


these Pilates and Herods sit down in private counsel it 
takes no prophet’s eye to see what that cuddling means. 

The shame of men’s deeds is augmented by the paltri- 
ness of the motive which prompts them to commit them. 
It is base, dishonorable, and extremely wicked to sacrifice 
conscience and duty for the sake of popular applause, ex- 
pediency, or for selfish ends. Such cowardice is born of 
guilt which is afraid to stand alone. There is a manliness 
in the maintenance of right, and in obedience to duty, no 
matter what that obedience may cost. When it is fash- 
ionable to be just and honest it does not require much 
moral courage to do right. It costs but little effort to be 
true and faithful to your convictions of duty where all 
men stand ready to support you. But to hold steadfast 
in your loyalty to God and your own conscience when 
right is imperilled and men are false, deceitful, and clam- 
orous for evil, and when favor, power, and position are 
tempting you to sin, and men are threatening you with 
destruction if you refuse to cater to their caprice; it 
is then you need a heart and courage to prove yourself 
a man. When wind and tide befriend us it requires 
no power to float; but to stem the drifting current of 
popularity, and at the same time when the fierce temp- 
tations beat upon us and persecutions are heaped upon 
us, it is then we need immortal courage, a strong arm, 
and a dauntless heart. It needs no great virtue to 
stand by the pure and holy when the masses desire it; 
but it requires an unyielding honor fearlessly to protect 
and defend the right when fashionable vice is the 
usurper of virtue. 

Any coward may put his foot upon the neck of 
his disarmed and prostrate foe ; but to walk up boldly to 
a fashionable vice or wrong which has been incased 
in custom and precedent, and say to its brazen face in 
the name of God and all that is just and honorable, 


DOING THE WILL OF GOD 


18 / 


“I command you to bow,” and then with the old 
Jerusalem sword of truth pierce its vitals and cleave 
it down before its worshipers, this requires heroism and 
fidelity to conviction. It costs but little genius or 
effort to appear pious and make great professions in 
public and exhibit zeal for religion; but to be inwardly 
pure and secretly devoted to God and His cause one 
must be sincere and consistent at all times and in all 
places. When men betray their sacred trust and sacred 
things seem to be abandoned, it is then we need to 
keep the eye of faith undimned and the soul uplifted 
to God. When others let go and fall we need a faith 
and courage that will cling to the high hand of heaven. 

In these times of religious errors, when there are 
so many declaring everywhere their readiness to follow 
Jesus, but, like confident Peter, in the first hour of 
real need deny and desert their Lord — in such a time 
we need to be steadfast. There are those with vast 
pretensions with no answering strength, who have justi- 
fied every claim and answered none. They have made 
Christ a failure, Christianity and everything else a 
failure, except their own crookedness and sinfulness. 
With such decadent and fossilized professors we can 
have no common interest. 

To grapple with the difficulties which now beset the 
church we need men of sterling character, not born in 
a religious spasm nor found in a momentary spiritual 
convulsion, but born of and filled with the Holy Spirit. 
We need men who stand heaven commissioned with 
clear and well-defined convictions of duty, and now will 
obey God rather than men. We need men who will meet 
sin, in the church and out of the church, calmly, coura- 
geously, and absolutely give it heroic treatment. Such 
men are exceedingly valuable to the Christian church, 
and never were in greater demand than now. The 


1 88 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

church needs men like St. Ambrose who, when 
Theodosius the emperor had committed an offense 
against the church, and when excluded from Christian 
fellowship, persisted in having a right to the sacrament 
of the Lord's Supper, took him by the arm, led him 
outside the holy altar, and, rebuking him, said, “It takes 
more than purple robes to make a priest." The church 
needs men like Luther, who are possessed with more 
than mortal courage. While dangers increased Luther’s 
heaven-born courage impelled him onward to Christian 
duty; and when confronted by the legates of Rome he 
said, “I am free, by the grace of God, and bulls neither 
console nor alarm me. Mjy strength and my consolation 
are in a place where neither men nor devils can reach 
them." Furthermore, when Martin Luther contemplated 
the baseness and enormity of the fraud perpetuated upon 
humanity by the foxy system of Romanism his whole 
being was aroused, which never lapsed into apathy. He 
heard the voice of God speaking to his consciousness, 
“The just by his faith shall live." His very being was 
thrilled with the premonitions of victory. He went forth 
with Christian courage to preach that truth which was 
destined to break the Roman yoke and transform the 
whole religious world. 

John Wesley saw a godless church ministering to 
the sensual gratifications of a licentious clergy, while 
immortal souls drifted down to hell undisturbed. His 
whole being was moved. He sought help from heaven. 
God put the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire upon 
his soul. From that time onward there was always 
present with him an invisible force which gave him a 
fidelity to conviction. Thus he began to proclaim those 
wholesome doctrines which have girdled the globe from 
he equator to the poles, and are still a mighty leverage 


DOING THE WILL OF GOD l8g 

in the hands of a faithful few in uplifting the world, 
and sanctifying believers. 

When the peasant girl of Domremy saw a mysteri- 
ous light in the heavens, she heard voices in the air 
calling her to specific line of duty. She unhesitatingly 
received the divine commission. God honored her faith. 
Notwithstanding she was charged with insanity and 
fanaticism she, with an intrepid courage, went to the 
head of the French army, marched into the city of 
Orleans, and the English troops, the victors of many 
battles, were outwitted and defeated by the unlettered 
Maid of Orleans. 

When the Assyrians encamped 185,000 strong 
against God’s Israel, they anticipated an easy victory; 
but even while they slept in expectancy, 

“The angel of death spread his wings on the blast 
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed; 

And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, 

And their hearts but once heaved, and forever were still.” 

It is a self-evident fact that God does not base His 
estimate of force or success on numbers, prestige, power, 
or equipment. God does not count His chances of suc- 
cess on our natural and acquired endowments or material 
forces. He confers His favor when we are in the right. 
He always estimates the righteousness of the cause at 
issue, and the purity of character of the contestants. 
It is an experimental and historical fact that all along 
down the ages, God has called men of different degrees 
of talent and mental culture, and from various stations 
of life, to fill the exalted mission of preaching the gospel. 
Then let all who are commissioned go forth with an 
unfaltering trust. Let us all renewedly take an aggres- 
sive attitude of hostility to the world, the flesh, and the 
devil. Do not become discouraged because the morning 
does not speedily dawn and light us to victory; there 


190 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

may be in this the germ of heavenly purpose because 
of the protracted strife. All great results are long in 
maturing. Remember the weary form of the Son of 
God who trod with fidelity the path of immortality before 
us. Through Him success is assured. 

Waving several other considerations of a less 
obvious kind, we are now prepared to understand in 
what sense and with what great certainty we who are 
succeed. Our success is attributable first to our fidelity 
to just convictions. Secondly, our success is attributable 
to righteousness of the cause at issue and the purity 
and motive of the contestants. Lastly, our success is 
attributable to our individuality augmented by the 
energy of the Holy Spirit, who is ever present with us. 
The experiences of Moses, Abraham, Daniel, Joseph, 
and St. Paul will furnish many illustrations of this sub- 
ject. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, 
unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, 
forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain 
in the Lord.” 


CHAPTER XVII 


THE GOSPEL MESSAGE 

Marconi’s wonderful discovery connected two con- 
tinents. At this station on the coast of Newfoundland 
he has received wireless telegraphic messages from Great 
Britain, over a vast stretch of three thousand miles of 
ocean which lies between. It is the greatest wonder of 
the twentieth century; and simple enough when under- 
stood. His device sets in motion certain waves in that 
ether which pervades and surrounds all things. These 
waves act on the same principle as the ripples in a pond 
when a pebble is cast into it, spreading in every direc- 
tion; so when the waves of ether reach any receiver, far 
or near, tuned to take them, they give the message to it. 
A receiver not tuned to the pitch is useless; however, 
the subtle ether waves pass on in their noiseless journey 
and give their message to the receiver that is attuned. 
Thus a tuned receiver will catch every message with 
absolute certainty; while one wrongly tuned will miss 
them all. 

This wonderful piece of mechanism finds an analogy 
in the spiritual and moral realm. How many times the 
gospel message is lost to the hearer because he is not 
tuned to the pitch. In a mixed congregation the message 
of salvation may be given; and those who are tuned 
to the gospel pitch receive it with absolute certainty, 
while those wrongly tuned, or out of tune, miss the glad 
message. 

Those in tune with the divine message hear it, re- 
191 


192 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

ceive it, rejoice in it, and gladly obey it; while on the 
other hand the untuned soul misses God’s message 
altogether, and goes away grumbling instead of rejoic- 
ing; sour, instead of sweet. Every soul that is harmoni- 
ously related to all truth hears the gospel message with 
gladness. 

My brother, those gospel messages that you failed 
to get — was not the fault in you rather than in the 
message? If your soul is in tune with the gospel of 
Christ it will come like a sunbeam straight and clear to 
your soul. Simply because you do not receive the gospel 
message does not make it any the less true. The divine 
message it there, and for you ; and but for your unpre- 
paredness, it would have been real to you. Do not find 
fault with the message when you are not tuned to 
receive it. 

The dyspeptic has no appetite for food, however 
good; but the healthy man hungers for bread. So the 
true child of God has a good spiritual appetite and hun- 
gers for the gospel, while religious dyspeptics have no 
relish for the gospel. 

The gospel message to the church is, “Go ye into 
all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” 
(Mark 16:15). “As thou hast sent me into the world, 
even so have I also sent them into the world” (John 
17:18). The limitations of Christ’s personal work on 
earth necessitated that the church take up the work 
where Christ left off. It was necessary that our Lord’s 
mission as Savior be fully authenticated to the world, 
that He prove His divine authority to forgive sins and 
His ability to give eternal life. This Jesus did. To be 
the world’s Savior it was necessary that He make an 
atonement for sin. Here the story of the passion, death, 
and resurrection of the Messiah. The Gospel message 
heralds Christ as the only one who “taketh away the 


THE GOSPEL MESSAGE 


193 


sin of the world.” It asserts with the fullest authority 
that the object of His mission is “that the world through 
him might be saved.” With the same clearness and 
authority that says that only those who believe on Him 
shall be saved, we read that he that believeth not shall 
be damned. We believe that God’s plan of redemption 
is adequate to meet the needs of the world ; but the com- 
pletion of God’s design in the redemptive work of Christ 
necessitates that the church do certain things in order 
to fulfil His proposals. 

That the church is to carry the gospel message to 
the world is a fact too obvious for dispute. God’s plan 
primarily is not to save the world through the pulpit 
but through the church. But one may ask, Were not 
the disciples preachers? I answer, Some of them were, 
but not all. The disciples were the church. They were 
first known as “My disciples,” afterwards as “believers,” 
“saints,” “Christians” ; but the whole is expressed by one 
word — church. Our Lord’s assertion is this: “I go 
unto my Father,” “I am no more in the world.” That 
is, His bodily presence is no more in the world, “but 
these are in the world,” and “as thou hast sent me into 
the world, even so have I also sent them into the 
world.” 

Beginning at Jerusalem was the divine order. The 
church must first save itself, if it would save the world. 
To notice specifically, Christ Himself asserted this es- 
sential, “Have salt in yourselves.” As much as in say, 
“if you would save others you must first save your- 
selves.” 

The relation of the ministry to the church primarily 
is to bring the gospel message to the church. At this 
point we meet with a grave error. It is assumed by the 
churches that the ministry is to save the wofld. This 
theory begins at the wrong end. It begins with a 


194 THE redeeming purpose of god 

scheme of its own creation, not that of the great Shep- 
herd of the sheep. We must get rid of the false notion 
that the preacher is to create revivals in the world, and 
that it is his specific duty to save sinners outside the 
church. A church void of the unction of the Holy 
Ghost, backslidden, and unable to pray down a revival 
from heaven, and thus miserably fail, always seeks refuge 
under the pulpit. This theory is what has brought the 
church into such a crisis. 

The preacher’s first duty is to the church. He is an 
apostle of Jesus Christ to proclaim the gospel to the 
church. He must have a positive, clear, well-defined 
message of salvation. It is not cheer the church needs 
but salvation, not help but rescue, not a stimulant, but a 
change of heart, not tonics but divine life. The one 
deep need of the church is regeneration, entire sanctifica- 
tion, the empowerment of the Holy Ghost in the strictest 
and holiest sense. The holy principles and pure doc- 
trines of the gospel are preached for the end, says the 
apostle Paul, “that we may present every man perfect 
in Christ Jesus” (Col. 1:28). Again St. Paul notes the 
peculiar object of the ministry. “And he [Christ] gave 
some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangel- 
ists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting 
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edify- 
ing of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the 
unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of 
God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature 
of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more 
children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every 
wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning 
craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive ; But speak- 
ing the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, 
which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole 
body [church] fitly joined together and compacted by that 


THE GOSPEL MESSAGE 


193 


which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual 
working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of 
the body unto the edifying of itself in love” (Eph. 4:11-16). 

Consider the object of the ministry herein stated. 1. 
That the body of Christ is to have the fulness of Christ. 

2. That the members of the body of Christ are to be- 
come mature men in all parts of their Christian character. 

3. There is perfect harmony among the members of 
the body of Christ, as Jesus said, “by this [love] shall 
all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love 
one to another.” 4. There is a corpmon sympathy and a 
common interest so that what promotes the good of 
one promotes the good of all. 

Now my opinion is, that unless the church attains 
unto this state of Christian character and manifests it in 
deeds as well as in words, and creed, she cannot intel- 
ligently hope for her ministry to reach the world with the 
gospel message. Hence until the church has first proved 
to the world by example that the gospel is the power of 
God unto salvation, she cannot reasonably hope to save 
it. When the ministers of Christ faithfully proclaim the 
gospel message to the world the echo comes back, Save 
your church and then your message will appeal to us. 
To this we must give heed. 

The church having saved herself, her next duty is 
to save the world. Christ Himself adopted this method. 
“Ye are the salt of the earth.” The church is to be in a 
large sense the savior of the world (1) By means of its 
presentation of the holy principles and the sound doctrines 
of Christ and of the apostles; (2) By means of a pure, 
holy, Christian character; (3) By means of a Christ-like 
example; (4) By its ardent prayers; (5) By its constant, 
incessant labors. 

Jesus plainly told His followers, “Ye are the light 
of the world.” It is the duty of the church to show to 


I96 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

the world Christianity as it is without false colors; to 
give to the world right views of Christ and His teach- 
ing without errors. First of all the church in bringing 
the gospel message to the world must set up a right 
standard of Christian character and conduct. This leads 
us to consider that Christ is the model of Christian char- 
acter and of life. The message proposes the highest 
pattern for the character and life of the church — “as he 
is pure,” “to walk even as he walked.” 

The distinctive character and life of Christ is de- 
signed and employed throughout the New Testament 
as the perfect model for Christian character and life. 
When we submissively yield ourselves to Christ by faith, 
we henceforth live in His loving embrace; and as the 
mold receives the delivered metal and imprints its exact 
outlines, so we receive the character of Christ with His 
own impress. It is this Christ-likeness that the world 
at sight recognizes in us. “By their fruit ye shall know 
them,” is the truest philosophy ever preached. The die 
will always strike its own impress. If we are in Christ 
there will be the deepest line and the bold reliefs of His 
glorious image. Having delivered ourselves into the 
embrace of Christ we “are changed,” says St. Paul, “into 
the same image from glory to glory, even as by the 
Spirit of the Lord” (II Cor. 3:18). The world may trace 
the lines of Christ-likeness to the last touch. All who 
are formed according to this pattern will evidence the 
Christ-likeness. Christ stamps upon every believing 
soul the mark of His own authentic character. From the 
formed stamped we determine the fashion of the die 
that struck it, since the casting betrays its mold so that 
each line may be clearly traced and thus judge of the 
mold that shaped it. If formed after the fashion of 
the world the same is clearly noted; if formed after 
Christ we are stamped with His virtues which are 


THE GOSPEL MESSAGE 


197 


clearly manifest. He is redeemed to a life of Christ-like- 
ness. This fact lies at the root of man’s deep need and 
of God’s plan of redemption. 

As the chart and compass are necessary to the 
mariner in order for correct reckoning, so Christ is in- 
dispensable to man’s deep need for correct reckoning rela- 
tive to character and conduct. It deeply concerns us 
to hold fast this view of the positive and distinct char- 
acter and life of the Christian. Drifting from this, and 
accepting any other test than this visible conformity to 
the Christ-likeness, or adopting any scheme that will 
liberalize us away from this divine redeeming Christ into 
natural moralities and pious sentimentalism, or to com- 
promise with the world to take off the reproach of the 
cross, is to invite loss for ourselves and those whom we 
might save. The well-defined separateness between the 
world and even among holiness people in some places is 
confused, and is clearly marked among the majority of 
churches. 

The spirit of liberalism is deepening. The wholly 
sanctified are well marked. As the unique casting after 
a certain mold is clearly discernible among numerous 
castings, so also the distinctive lines of Christian char- 
acter and life are clearly manifest among all professors 
of religion. “By their fruit ye shall know them.” The 
church must be the example of righteousness and Christ- 
likeness. The mere telling the world what to do is not 
telling what is right. The church is to teach the world 
what is right by example. The mere preaching pre- 
cepts puts the man on trial to do what he thinks is 
right, but Christ-likeness in the life enables him do what 
is right. 

The world never will be made better by a Christless, 
worldly-minded, frolicking, rollicking church, neither will 
the world be saved by the most profound principles and 


I98 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

the holiest doctrines if back of these principles there is 
not a corresponding character and life. Suppose the 
ministry does preach the truth, but the church con- 
tinues doing the wrong, how can an intelligent hope be 
entertained to correct the world in its wrong? St. 
James’s injunction is very appropriate here: “Be ye do- 
ers of the word, and not hearers only.” Divine truth 
received into honest hearts and obeyed is efficacious in 
the salvation of the one who speaks and the one who 
hears. The word of the Lord proclaimed from the pul- 
pit, if it be a saving benefit to the world, must be mani- 
fested in the life of the church. When the church has 
reproduced in character and life what Christ and the 
apostles taught and lived, then may she hope to regener- 
ate and sanctify the world. 

The great need of the church is to retrace its steps 
to Pentecost. This pentecostal baptism of the Holy 
Ghost will help solve the problem of the salvation of 
the world. The application of the literal meaning of 
the word “church” is inexplicable without the empower- 
ment of the Holy Ghost. The personal indwelling of the 
Holy Spirit is an integral part of the true church. There 
can be no true church without the Holy Spirit. As one 
old divine has truly said: “Where the Spirit is there 
is the church.” 

The world is unnecessarily perplexed and often sadly 
deluded because the church is not Spirit-filled, and is 
not Spirit-anointed. Oh, that the church would turn 
her eyes inward in order to know her own condition 
and then compare herself with the church at Pentecost. 
Scarcely had the New Testament church outgrown her 
swaddling clothes before she was a mighty force under 
the Holy Spirit in opening the eyes of the blind, unstop- 
ping deaf ears, causing the lame to leap as a hart and the 
tongue of the dumb to sing; then waters burst forth 


THE GOSPEL MESSAGE 


199 


from the wilderness and streams from the desert, the 
parched ground became a pool and the thirsty land 
Springs of water, and souls were daily added to the 
church. 

When the church is committed to accept into its 
life the entire consecration contained in the following 
hymn written by Miss Frances Ridley Havergal, which 
hymn has been blessed to the accomplishing of a most 
gracious ministry in many hearts and lives, then she will 
be a mighty force in bringing the world to the foot of 
the cross, and the knowledge of the Christian religion: 

Take my life, and let it be 
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee. 

Take my moments and my days; 

Let them flow in ceaseless praise. 

Take my hands, and let them move 
At the impulse of Thy love. 

Take my feet, and let them be 
Swift and beautiful for Thee. 

Take my voice, and let me sing, 

Always, only, for my King. 

Take my lips, and let them be 
Filled with messages from Thee. 

Take my silver and my gold; 

Not a mite would I withhold. 

Take my intellect, and use 
Every power as Thou shalt choose. 

Take my will, and make it Thine; 

It shall be no longer mine. 

Take my heart, it is Thine own; 

It shall be Thy royal throne. 

Take my love; my Lord, I pour 
At Thy feet its treasure-store. 

Take myself, and I will be 
Ever, only, all for Thee. 

If the church refuses to make the gospel message 
the rule of its faith and the director of its life and 


200 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


the model of its practice then how is the world ulti- 
mately to hear the message of full salvation? I answer, 
the divine plan is if the church will not accept the 
gospel message then the ministry is to go to the Gen- 
tiles or world with the gospel of Christ. This is the 
method the apostles adopted. “Then Paul and Bar- 
nabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the 
word of God should first have been spoken to you 
[Jews, the original church] ; but seeing ye put it from 
you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, 
lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord com- 
manded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the 
Gentiles” (Acts 13:46, 47). The Jews, by not believing 
on Jesus Christ, have been confounded from that time 
to the present. That church which turns from the gos- 
pel message will soon reach the same doom. 

The gospel message to the world is Christ crucified, 
and that through Him God wills all to be saved, and 
come to the knowledge of the truth. It makes a full dis- 
covery of the holiness, justice, truth, and goodness of 
God. It is in every way suited to the fallen condition 
and deep need of man’s soul. Its precepts are reason- 
able, its promises are immutable; it is full of hope, and 
satisfies every desire of the human soul. Our Lord Je- 
sus asserts this when He said, “Whosoever drinketh 
of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” 
“Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the 
wells of salvation.” All may continually drink and be 
satisfied. The joy of knowing Jesus is expressed thus 
by Charles Wesley: 

0 how happy are they, 

Who the Savior obey, 

And have laid up their treasure above! 

Tongue can never express 
The sweet comfort and peace 
df a soul in its earliest love. 


THE GOSPEL MESSAGE 


201 


That sweet comfort was mine, 

When the favor divine 
I first found in the blood of the Lamb; 

When my heart first believed, 

What a joy I received, 

What a heaven in Jesus’ name! 

'Twas a heaven below 
My Redeemer to know, 

And the angels could do nothing more, 

Than to fall at His feet, 

And the story repeat, 

And the Lover of sinners adore. 

Jesus all the day long 
Was my joy and my song: 

O that all His salvation might see! 

“He hath loved me,” I cried, 

“He hath suffered and died, 

To redeem a poor rebel like me.” 

0 the rapturous height 
Of that holy delight 

Which I felt in the life-giving blood! 

Of my Savior possessed, 

1 was perfectly blest, 

As if filled with the fulness of God. 

The gospel plan is not to restrain evils but to 
eradicate them. It not only takes out of the soul those 
evil dispositions or propensities which lead to sin and 
the carnal flesh, but infuses those holy principles which 
lead to peace, purity, and happiness. The gospel is to 
convict of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment in 
order that sinful man may feel his need of salvation. It 
is essential to salvation that man see he is guilty and 
impure, for the reason if man be saved he must be de- 
livered from the record of sin and brought back to 
that state of holiness he lost in the fall. 

The gospel message necessarily involves, I. The 
removal of guilt so that the conscience no longer feels 
that dreadful apprehension of God’s wrath. There can 
be no peace of conscience unless there be divine appro- 


202 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


bation, and there can be no divine approbation where 
the heart is in rebellion against God. 

2. It also proposes to restore man to the forfeited 
rights and privileges in the family of God. But in order 
to this regeneration or the “new birth” is the only mode 
through which to be restored to sonship in God’s family. 

3. The power of sin may be broken so that we no 
longer need serve sin. 

4. The cleansing of the heart from all moral pollu- 
tion. To accept these facts are of vital interest to the 
soul, for if we fail here we shall be right nowhere. 

That effect of the gospel message be not lost let us 
consider these statements: (1) That there is a throne 
of grace accessible where God and man are to meet; 
(2) That this mercy-seat is sprinkled with the precious 
blood of Jesus Christ which taketh away the sin of the 
world; (3) That it is our duty as well as our privilege 
to come to this mercy-seat; (4) That we must earnestly 
engage ourselves and insistently and persistently call 
upon God for mercy and help if we would share in the 
benefits of the atoning blood of Jesus; (5) That we 
must feel our spiritual poverty and utter helplessness in 
order to our trusting solely in the efficacy of our ador- 
able Redeemer; (6) That all who repent and believe in 
Christ are divinely assured that they will receive what 
they desire. 

The atonement made through Jesus Christ is the in- 
fallible assurance to all who come unto God through His 
only begotten Son. 

We are further assured that Christ who is our media- 
tor and stands before the Father’s throne is a merciful 
and faithful High Priest, touched with the feeling of 
our infirmities. He sympathizes with us in our helpless 
condition and deep need and is more willing to hear 
and administer to our wants than we are to ask. Yea, 


THE GOSPEL MESSAGE 20 3 

all who come unto God through Christ will in no wise 
be cast off. 

God stands back of all His promises. “If we con- 
fess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our 
sins.” But, “let the wicked forsake his way, and the 
unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto 
the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him ; and to 
our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Reader, the 
Lord Jesus gave Himself that He might redeem us from 
all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, 
zealous of good works. See Titus 2:11-14. This is the 
message of salvation. 

Lay hold, therefore, of the hope set before you. 
The gate is straight, but you may enter. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


A MESSAGE TO THE UNSAVED 

“Thou wilt shew me the path of life : in thy presence 
is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures 
for evermore.” “And blessed is he, whosoever shall not 
be offended in me [Jesus].” 

Man is not only endowed with capability to suffer, 
but with capacity and desire for happiness. He not only 
has an eager fondness for existence, but he has an 
innate, insatiable desire for something to render his 
existence happy. However, the generality of mankind 
in their quest for happiness are miserably disappointed, 
for the reason that they pass by the infinite fountain 
of bliss in pursuit of created enjoyment, forgetful that 
the unbounded cravings of the immortal soul cannot 
be satisfied with the perishing things of the present 
world. 

So long as man seeks to derive pleasure through 
his animal senses, and to gratify the eager thirst of his 
soul by mirth, gaiety, riches, honor, or by any of the 
tempting sweets of this vain world, just so long will 
his sanguine expectations and pleasing prospects vanish 
into smoke. The tree of selfish gratification may be 
laden with beautiful, fragrant blossoms, but they will 
never yield the expected fruits, for the reason that the 
pleasure resulting from these things are not adequate 
to the unbounded cravings of the soul. The flattering 
prospects of this life at their best are but empty baubles, 
and will perish forever. 


205 


206 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


“I give my heart,” says the son of David, “to seek 
and search out wisdom concerning all things that are 
under heaven.” “I have seen all the works that are done 
under the sun. I am come to great estate, and behold 
all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” 

Reader, you are a candidate for eternity. Then in 
view of this fact you should extend your interests and 
prospects beyond the limits of mortality. Terrible as it 
may seem to you, remember that the pleasures of this 
mortal life, both in respect of enjoyment and expectation, 
will have perished forever when you have passed the 
limits of time. If you have lived an aimless life and 
for the gratification of a depraved appetite you will in 
return be compelled to meet the retributive justice of 
God, and in return His justice will reign in awful terror. 
“Ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none 
of my reproof : I also will laugh at your calamity ; I will 
mock when your fear cometh” (Prov. 1 125, 26). 

In your future and tremendous doom your conscience 
which you have stifled by your onward and downward 
course in sin will recover itself from that state of in- 
sensibility and become your everlasting implacable tor- 
mentor. The die will soon be cast. Heaven is receding, 
and all hell is moving to meet you at your coming. 
All hope of heaven will soon have perished forever. 

Your sun will soon have gone down, never more 
to rise ; while the blackness and darkness of eternal night 
will enshroud your deathless soul. You have bartered 
away eternal happiness, and all for a few passing 
pleasures. The poet has graphically described your state 
thus: 

“In that lone land of deep despair, 

No Sabbath’s heavenly light shall rise, 

No God regard your bitter prayer, 

No Savior call you to the skies." 


A MESSAGE TO THE UNSAVED 20? 

Oh, miserable doom! to be shut up in ghastly and 
eternal misery, “Where their worm dieth not, and the 
fire is not quenched.” 

Reader, the increased and hopeless wretchedness of 
your soul will be due to the tormenting recollections 
of your past folly. To think your state might have been 
different will only increase your misery. No agreeable 
recollections of the past, no pleasing thought of the 
future. To view the past will only increase your 
wretchedness. To look forward to the future with no 
hope of recovery will only add fuel to the flame of your 
torment. You are shut up to this inevitable fate. No 
escape from the tormenting recollections of the past, 
no hope for a future of bliss. No relaxation from the 
painful sensations of your immortal soul. No safe- 
guard from the frowns of an angry God. No escape 
from the scene of Calvary’s victim. Though you might 
desire to rush madly into the gulf of annihilation you 
are held by the fate of an eternal existence. 

What greater hell could there be than to be forever 
banished from the presence of God, with all happiness 
hopelessly cut off? This alone would be an ever-growing 
torment. In this life, hope breaks through the limits of 
the present, makes excursions into the scenes of futurity 
and roves through the regions of immensity in quest of 
some complete happiness to supply the defects of its 
present enjoyments. But the cruel hand of death will 
rend from you every vestige of hope for any future en- 
joyment. 

Your doom is eternally fixed and you are hope- 
lessly engulfed in the horrors of despair. You are 
pleased with nothing, exasperated with everything. You 
are your own tormentor and concur in the just con- 
demning sentence of the Supreme Judge. If you con- 
tinue in an unregenerate state you will be lost to 


208 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


heaven as certainly as you were born, and you will as 
assuredly be in hell in course of time as you are now 
on earth, if you do not seek remission of sins. “Except 
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom *of 
God.” This is the eternal hat of God. 

Man is not pressed into heaven by unavoidable 
fatality, but enters there by prudent choice, through 
faith in the infinite merit of the atoning blood of Christ. 

God excludes none from heaven who do not exclude 
themselves. Men are not lost in hell, because they are 
born in sin, but on account of rejecting Jesus Christ 
as their Savior. If eternal happiness was promised 
to mankind without distinction of character, then all 
might indulge in the passing pleasure of this life with- 
out restraint, and never for a moment perplex them- 
selves about the future. But in pursuance of the fact 
that a holy character is an absolute prerequisite for 
heaven each one should set himself with anxious in- 
quiry to seeking that holiness without which no man 
shall see the Lord. Common sense alone says we would 
not enjoy heaven if in this life we have no fitness or 
relish for heaven. Hence if you have no admiration for 
the holiness of God and no pleasure in contemplation 
of Him, nor any delight in His service, in acts of pious 
devotion, then how is it possible to enjoy an eternity 
of heavenly bliss? You should in this life be holy, for 
the reason that people do not begin to be holy in heaven ; 
but on earth. Neither do people begin to be wicked in 
hell, but on earth. 

Each person takes with him the character and dis- 
positions which are fitted for their respective places and 
employment. Then what folly, what madness, to hope 
for heaven while you have no evidence of it, title to it, 
nor fitness for it. 

Why will you longer stand disputing with God, 


A MESSAGE TO THE UNSAVED 


209 


hoping in vain, and flattering yourself you are all right 
while you are standing on the brink of eternal ruin, in 
only a little while to be hopelessly engulfed in hell? 
Oh, that you would immediately set about the work of 
your soul’s salvation by using all the means God has 
instituted to recover you from sin and bring you to his 
eternal abode. 


The maxims of false philosophy tend to exterminate 
and ignore sin, but it is one of God’s fixed principles 
of administration that there shall be either here or here- 
after a painful rememberance of and a just retribution 
for sin. Man by his carnal policy is prone to forget 
sin ; but God has determined that it shall be remembered 
and adequately felt. One’s conscience may be so seared 
by a constant repetition of wrongdoing that he will not 
be brought to a true sense of his sins in this life, but he 
will assuredly be reminded of them in the world to come. 
The recollection of these sins may meet him at the hour 
of death, and there weigh upon his conscience and 
haunt him with the most terrible anticipations of the 
righteous judgment of God. 

The chastisements of God are intentional and cer- 
tain. When men sin against God, themselves, or their 
brethren, there will inevitably follow the law of retribu- 
tion that will be equal to the crime. When Adam had 
abused his paradisical state he was doomed through the 
barrenness of the earth, which henceforth spontaneously 
brought forth thorns and thistles, to eat his bread “in 
the sweat of his brow.” 

The brethren of Joseph sold him to Midianite merchant- 
men as a slave. Twenty weary years elapsed, but 
the horrible deed was not forgotten: it was written in 
God’s book of remembrance. Joseph finally reigned in 


210 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


all the splendor of Egyptian majesty, while his brethren 
were humbled and distressed, and, in their dire situation, 
the memory of their sin was revived and they said one 
to another, “We are very guilty concerning our brother 
in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he be- 
sought us, but we would not hear; therefore is this dis- 
tress come upon us.” The law of retribution was justly 
enforced upon David for having murdered Uriah. God 
declared that the sword should not depart from his house 
forever. 

Again, take Adoni-bezek for example. When the 
children of Israel pursued after him, overtook him, and 
cut off his thumbs and his great toes, Adoni-bezek said, 
“Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and 
their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my 
table ; as I have done, so God hath requited me” (Judg. 1:7). 

Take as another example Harm.n, who erected a 
lofty gallows upon which to hang Mordecai, but who 
himself was hanged thereon. It is true he did not hang 
Mordecai, but his will was equivalent to the deed. While 
Haman went down to his grave in eternal disgrace, 
Mordecai lived and continued to discharge his high trust 
with great fidelity and usefulness. 

It is an unalterable law of retribution that if you 
erect a gallows upon which to hang the innocent you 
yourself will be hanged. “The mills of the gods grind 
slowly but they grind exceeding fine.” 

“But did not our blessed Lord abrogate this law?” 
you may ask. I answer, No; He taught it as an unalter- 
able principle in the government of God for all time. 
“With what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged: and 
with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you 
again.” 

Unjust procedures against the innocent, unkind re- 


A MESSAGE TO THE UNSAVED 21 1 

marks, rash judgment against your brethren — all will come 
home to you. 

Reader, it is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong. 
Consider the conduct of Abraham towards Lot. Lot 
was a mere mite of twittering flesh in comparison to 
Abraham; yet Abraham surrendered his superiority and 
rights to the inferior Lot, and that too with the greatest 
civility, urbanity, and decorum ; he said, “If thou wilt go 
to the left, I will go to the right; or, if thou depart to 
the right, then I will go to the left.” He acted like a 
saint. His conduct was that of devotedness to God, a 
contemplation of eternity, a hope full of immortality. 

These lines from the “Famous Boston Hymn” writ- 
ten by the Rev. Joseph Cook, are words of warning and 
comfort : 

Searching sun and holy sky, 

God is great and heaven is high: 

Who can wash my red, right hand? 

This I ask of sea and land: 

Who from guilt can give release? 

After treason, where is peace? 

Tidings blest from God I hear. 

Ransom He from guilt and fear! 

God in Christ atonement makes; 

He no penitent forsakes. 

Grace is this beyond degree : 

Robe of white He giveth me! 

All the galaxies His hand 

Holds as drifting grains of sand; 

But in lowly hearts dwells He, 

And His wounds have set us free. 

Lo! the cross for evermore 

Exiles guides to heaven’s door. 














CHAPTER XIX 


PAULAS TEACHING IN THE SEVENTH CHAPTER OF ROMANS 

The holiness teacher and people have felt the great 
need of a scriptural exposition of this much controverted 
chapter. Much that has been said pro and con as an 
exegesis of this chapter has been mere word-philosophy, 
philosophy that does not fit into facts. 

To assert that the seventh chapter of Romans or 
any part of it is the state of a justified person is contrary 
to every principle of moral philosophy and is in opposi- 
tion to the plain teaching of the Holy Scriptures and 
God’s plan of human redemption. 

We are not to accept the teaching of a man simply 
because he wears the cloak of an apostle. We are not 
to accept his theories because they charm the ear and 
give great promise of blessing. 

We are to demand as prime conditions of our 
acceptance a showing of fruits ; results wrought, whereby 
the theory or system which is proposed unequivocally 
demonstrates to be that which exalts God and blesses 
man and promotes the spiritual interest of the church. 

The whole chapter describes sin as an inconceivable 
evil, and possesses an indescribable malignity and power 
over man, so that he not only has no power by which 
to deliver himself from this state of wretchedness, but 
is left to sink lower and yet lower into the bottomless 
pit of his own pollution; destitute of help in himself; 
hence the cry of the anguished soul, “O wretched man 
that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this 
213 


214 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


death ?” (verse 24). That soul which is justified is 
neither wretched nor under spiritual death. While on the 
other hand the eighth chapter teaches the restoration of 
man to the image of God he lost, and the perfection he had 
forfeited, by disobedience. The eighth chapter teaches 
that the degenerate sons of Adam may be saved from 
bondage of corruption, and brought into the glorious 
liberty of the sons of God. 

The seventh chapter teaches that man by nature is 
internally corrupt and totally fallen from God and from 
original righteousness. The apostle points out all the evil 
consequences of the fallen nature of man. Note the words 
of the apostle : “I am carnal, sold under sin.” First, this 
denotes the sinful sate of man. He is designated 
as being internally corrupt, depraved, degenerate. Second, 
that the man is a bond slave to this wretched condition, 
“sold under sin” (verse 14). From the fifteenth verse 
to the twenty-fourth verse inclusive the apostle describes 
the internal, corrupt, fallen state of man, and the internal, 
sinful, or evil principle, manifested by evil practices. 

Hear him: “For what I would that do I not.” 
Here is the sin of omission, “but what I hate that do I.” 
Here is the sin of commission, “For the good that I 
would I do not.” It will be the hopeless task of those 
who contend that this chapter is the state of a justi- 
fied person to first prove that it is the prerogative of the 
justified to take the liberty not to do good, “But the evil 
which I would not, that do I.” Here the constraining 
power of sin is the controlling dominant element bring- 
ing the person into overt acts of sin, thus making him 
the slave of sin. 

“I find then a law, that, when I would do good, 
evil is present with me.” What law? I answer, “the 
law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2). And the apostle asserts 
that this law in my members wars “against the law 


Paul's teaching in the seventh of romans 215 

of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law 
of sin which is in my members” (verse 23). 

It is one of those moral impossibilities for a 
Christian at any period of his life to be held a captive 
under sin. It would be just as consistent to speak of 
a holy devil as a sinning Christian. (The reader is cited 
to the last chapter which elucidates John’s teaching on 
this very truth.) 

In the phrase “bringing me into captivity to the 
law of sin,” “bringing into captivity” literally means 
“making me a prisoner of war.” Seneca expresses a 
similar thought, “What, then, is it that, when we would 
go in one direction, drags us in the other?” That is, the 
law of sin is constantly holding me as captive under sin. 
This is not true in any sense in the justified life. All this 
proceeds directly from the corrupt, degenerate heart. 
The internal wickedness of man’s heart becomes mani- 
fest by bringing the unregenerate “into captivity to the 
law of sin.” 

Thus the apostle proclaims that every unregenerate 
man shows himself to be a child of corruption — a fallen 
spirit intent, and impelled on in sin by the very inward 
sinful law of his being. 

The whole chapter shows that man’s proneness to 
sin and fellness of disposition springs from the degener- 
ate, corrupt nature. 

Consequently the apostle says, “I find then a law, 
that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.” 
“For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which 
I would not, that I do.” 

All is internally corrupt, consequently the whole 
system of passions, appetites, faculties, and mental 
powers are in a state of uncleanness, disorder and con- 
fusion. Reason teaches us that the stream cannot rise 
higher than the fountain. The carnal lust of libidinous 


21 6 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


desires is the sinful law that the unconverted man finds 
in himself, called by St. Paul “the law of sin.” 

This “law of sin’’ is the one ruling dominant prin- 
ciple in the life of every unconverted man. The apostle 
calls it “the law of sin and death,” for the reason this 
whole mass of corruption brings forth lust; lust is con- 
ceived and brings forth sin; and when sin is finished it 
brings forth death. Now to assume that the seventh 
chapter of Romans teaches the state of justification, is 
contrary to the dignity of the redeeming work of Christ, 
and the dignity of the nature and state of the redeemed. 
Hear the word of God, “Whosoever is born of God 
doth not commit sin.” “He that committeth sin is of 
the devil.” 

God protests against sin. Sin can have no place in 
the presence of God. Bishop Edward P. Hart once said, 
“God does not dwell savingly where He does not 
reign.” But a greater than he has said, “He that com- 
mitteth sin is the servant of sin.” Jesus and St. Paul 
say, “Sin shall not have dominion over you.” The 
least or lowest state of grace saves one from sinning, or 
wilful acts of transgression against any known law of 
God. 

So radically great is the change in the conversion 
of the soul that St. John says that “Whosoever is born 
of God doth not commit sin,” and that “He that com- 
mitteth sin is of the devil.” “In this the children of 
God are manifest and the children of the devil.” The 
apostle differentiates between the children of God and 
the children of the devil in this, namely, one sins and the 
other does not sin. 

The testimony of the apostle Paul also declares that 
the old consanguinity is changed in conversion and 
that a new law now sets in which it dominates and 
impels us onward in the divine life. Thus “For the law 


PAUL'S TEACHING IN THE SEVENTH OF ROMANS 21? 

of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free 
from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2). That is, the 
justified person has a divine resident force within the 
heart expelling “the law of sin and death.” 

Man acquires a new nature in conversion so that 
he has a new name. He is called a son of God, because 
he is a child of God. So that the truly converted no 
longer stands in any relation to sin or the devil. The 
converted or justified are received into the family of 
God and are in every respect conformed to that family, 
consequently they do not sin against God. Should they 
sin they cease to be His sons. The justified leaves be- 
hind him all his sins, sinful habits, sinful companions 
and sinful acts, being no longer of the old father, the 
devil, nor in any respect doing his lust; for the reason 
he is cut off from the old stock and is grafted into 
the new. 

The law of his being now binds him to maintain 
in every respect the honor and dignity of his sonship, 
and that dignity of the family of God into which he 
has been adopted. He belongs to God, body, soul, and 
spirit, and is absolutely at the disposal of God; conse- 
quently is bound, if he would enjoy the privileges of 
the sons of God, not to sin. 

Sonship privileges in the divine family and fealty 
to God are inseparable from each other. Where “the 
law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus” is in the heart 
there is “freedom from the law of sin and death” — 
hence universal loving obedience to God will be secured. 
We find that the apostle has proved in the seventh 
chapter of Romans that the cause of the disorderly con- 
duct of man is the effect of the force of his sinful, 
unrenewed nature, and that the effect will continue 
to be exactly the same so long as “the law of sin and 
death remain within.” 


218 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


Again we find that the apostle teaches us 
that “the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus curbs 
or rather suspends the law of sin and death” in the 
heart and life of the truly justified. That is, “the law 
of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus/’ in the heart of the 
justified counteracts the evil and produces the good. 
So the whole being is renewed throughout. 

The justified lives in the spirit of subjection and 
obedience to God, and in the deepest humility of soul 
waits to receive the commands of God ; and divine power 
is given to fulfill them. He feels that he must not 
choose sin, therefore he will not. Obedience is the 
element in which he thrives and increases in grace and 
the knowledge of Christ. He waits on God to do all 
His known will, and he finds that God waits to be 
gracious to him. His heart is fixed on God, and he 
finds that God condescends to be his companion through 
life. Jesus says, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto 
the end.” 

All his powers are sensible of communion with the 
Father and with the Son, through the Holy Ghost, and 
that he is led by the Spirit of God; and the Holy Spirit 
dwelleth in him and bears witness that he is the son 
of God. Rom. 8 :i i, 16. Furthermore Paul positively 
asserts that in the heart of the justified the “Holy Ghost 
is given,” therefore he knows he is a son of God. 

Every truly justified person seeks to know the will 
of God, that he may do His will. 

Moreover, the justified are as capable of doing 
the will of God as they are of knowing His will. We 
find from the foregoing indisputable facts that the 
apostle does not teach that the seventh chapter of Ro- 
mans is that of a state of justification. The theory has 
no just ground to stand on, for the reason all its force 
is destroyed by the consideration of the apostle’s own 


paui/s teaching in the seventh of romans 219 

reasoning. It is in itself absurd because it involves a 
positive contradiction of God’s Word and of every 
principle in moral philosophy. Dr. Adam Clarke, in his 
comments on the seventh chapter of Romans says, “It 
is difficult to conceive how the opinion could have crept 
into the church or prevailed there” that “the apostle 
speaks here of his regenerate state; and that what was 
in such a state true of himself, must be true of all 
others in the same state. The opinion has most pitifully 
and most shamefully, not only lowered the standard of 
Christianity, but destroyed its influence and disgraced 
its character. 

“It requires but little knowledge of the Spirit of 
the Gospel, and of the scope of this epistle, to see that 
the apostle is here either personating a Jew under the 
law and without the Gospel, or showing what his own 
state was when he was deeply convinced that by the 
deeds of the law no man could be justified and had 
not yet heard those blessed words, ‘Brother Saul, the 
Lord Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way hath 
sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be 
filled with the Holy Ghost.’ ” 

Note these two fundamental facts, namely: 

That the source or fountain of man’s being is cor- 
rupt and from this proceeds sinful acts; thus it is the 
law of his being to sin, and this ruling, dominant ele- 
ment in man will continue to rule him until he is truly 
regenerated. The apostle has not left us to seek this 
from conjecture; he positively states the thing itself, 
“the law of sin and death,” which is the dominant 
force within impelling the unregenerate to evil. On the 
other hand, “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ” in 
the heart of the justified is the one inward impelling 
force in the heart and life. Consequently the justified 
are “freed from the law of sin and death,” and are 


220 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


spiritually minded and are led by the Spirit of God 
and are not children of the devil. The justified are the 
“servants of righteousness” not the “servants of sin.” 

This ought to be sufficient to satisfy the reason and 
common sense of every inquirer. 

The determination expressed in the following lines 
will, by the grace of God, bring to the heart rest and 
deliverance : 

“Here will I set up my rest; 

My fluctuating heart 

From the haven of His breast 
Shall never more depart. 

Whither should a sinner go ? 

His wounds for me stand open wide; 

Only Jesus will I know. 

And Jesus crucified. 

“Him to know is life and peace, 

And pleasure without end; 

This is all my happiness, 

On Jesus to depend; 

Daily in His grace to grow, 

And ever in His faith abide: 

Only Jesus will I know. 

And Jesus crucified/’ 


CHAPTER XX 


st. John's teaching in his first epistle 

This Epistle is greatly in need of clear explana- 
tion to free it from the confusion which is frequently at- 
tached to it by that class of teachers and preachers who 
oppose the doctrine of holiness. There has been a long- 
felt want among the holiness people for a comprehen- 
sive exposition of the epistle that will make clear the 
true meaning of certain texts. This service the writer 
would like to perform; but the space allotted will per- 
mit of but a general statement of some underlying 
truths in this blessed Epistle which is worthy of an ex- 
haustive and scholarly exegesis. However, he cheer- 
fully contributes this statement to what has already 
been written, feeling the result will be some blessing to 
the cause of holiness which lies so dear and near to his 
heart. 

A careful investigation of the subject under con- 
sideration is of prime importance if we would reach a 
satisfactory conclusion. To know the patient and espe- 
cially to know the nature of the disease is of prime im- 
portance in the successful treatment of it. I presume 
there is no portion of the Scriptures which has been so 
misunderstood and so shamefully perverted as the First 
Epistle General of John. Much of the error has grown 
out of a wrong conception of the occasion and object 
of the Epistle. Some writers have attached dispropor- 
tionate importance to certain texts which seem to teach 
the habit of the commission of sin, to the utter neglect of 

221 


222 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


some other texts which clearly teach that sinning in 
every way is utterly incompatible with the Christian life. 
Then, too, some have given a strained exegesis on cer- 
tain texts and made St. John to teach that freedom 
from sin in this life is not possible; and have neglected 
or ignored other texts which plainly assert that sinning 
is altogether inconsistent with the nature and extent of 
the “new birth.” 

Such strained interpretations which individuals have 
put on texts in order to support a theory which opposes 
holiness condemn such an exegesis among all honest 
seekers after truth. In the elucidation or interpretation 
of the Epistle it is unwarrantable to draw one’s conclu- 
sions wholly from a particular part of the Epistle to the 
exclusion or neglect of other parts. 

What does St. John contemplate in this message to 
the church? The ultimate goal of the apostle’s proposi- 
tion is to get rid of sin and sinning. 

Let us consider briefly its design and scope. What 
led to the writing of this First Epistle? It was written 
to grapple with the insidious seduction of Antinomian 
Gnosticism. Let us first trace briefly the chief charac- 
teristics of this heresy, and note carefully St. John’s well- 
defined attitude toward it. 

Jerome asserts that “St. John, at the invitation of the 
bishops of Asia Minor, wrote his Gospel against Cerin- 
thus and other heretics — and especially against the 
dogma of the Ebionites then rising into existence, who 
asserted that Christ did not exist before Mary.” “Two 
of these sects or schools are very ancient, and seem to 
have been referred to by St. John. The first is that of 
the Naassenians or Ophites. The antiquity of this sect 
is guaranteed to us by the author of the Philosophu - 
mena, who represents them as the real founders of 
Gnosticism. Later,” he says, “they were called Gnostics, 


st. John's teaching in his first epistle 223 

pretending that they only knew the depths .” (To this 
allusion is made Apoc. 2 124, which would identify these 
sectaries with the Balaamites and Nicolaitans.)” See 
further The Expositor's Bible on this Epistle, from 
which this reference is taken. 

The leading tenets of this great heresy are as fol- 
lows: The first fundamental errors were that Jesus 
did not possess a material body; and secondly, that Jesus 
was not truly divine. This accounts for the apostle’s open- 
ing message, “That which was from the beginning, which 
we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which 
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of 
the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we 
have seen it, . . . .).” God personally manifested in 
the flesh verified. “We have seen,” “handled.” The 
Gnostics assumed that the material body of Christ was 
a vestment of no integrally, personal, and permanent 
character; it was, indeed, a sort of masquerade, an arti- 
fice, or a fiction imagined to deceive the Prince of the 
World. The other theory is that our Savior at His 
baptism received a donation of powers which contributed 
to His greatness. We have noted this in the chapter 
dealing with Christ’s miracle-working power. 

Gnosticism also assumed to restore the lost 
knowledge of God. St. John announces the incarnation 
of the Son of God as the only way which all men must 
pursue if they would -finally arrive at a just and saving 
knowledge of God. The incarnation of the eternal Son 
of God stands unique in declaring the absolute idea of 
the living God, without an attempt at demonstration. 
The fact of God in Jesus Christ incarnate is not given 
as a deduction of reason or a philosophic speculation, 
it is in itself a revelation of God. In Jesus Christ the 
glorious being of God comes forth without explanation 
and without apology. The incarnation is the revelation 


224 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


of God as the first Cause, the Creator of the universe, 
the world, and man. The incarnate Son of God was 
and did reveal the finality of all things. Gnosticism 
could not trace the idea of such a Being, still less of 
such a Creator and Redeemer; for the reason their sys- 
tem, like “Christian Science,” falsely so called, began and 
ended with pantheistic or materialistic conceptions. St. 
John in his postulate of the revelation of the one per- 
sonal living God in Jesus Christ says, “This is the true 
God, and eternal life ,, (5:20). Read the apostle’s open- 
ing message on the Word made flesh in the Gospel ac- 
cording to St. John, 1 n-14; also I John 1 11-3. 

John declares Jesus Christ a finality. In Christ is 
the unity of God in contradiction to all the polytheisms 
and dualisms of ancient Gnosticism and modern pagan 
philosophy which would corrupt Christianity. The in- 
carnate Christ came to reveal the Father. Jesus Him- 
self makes this clear: “No man hath seen God at any- 
time ; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of 
the Father, he hath declared him.” Philip once said 
unto Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and it sufflceth 
us.” But Jesus answered him, “He that hath seen Me 
hath seen the Father” (John 14:8, 9). 

The personality of God is revealed in Jesus Christ. 
In contradiction to that Pantheism, whether materialistic 
or idealistic, which recognizes God’s eminence in Christ 
and in the world, but denies His transcendence. Gnos- 
ticism, which takes on the notion of Pantheism, with 
“Christian Science,” has this fatal feature in it, that it 
denies the personality of God and sin, and excludes 
from the realm of life the need of a Mediator, a Sin- 
bearer, and a personal Savior. 

The incarnate Christ revealed the omnipotent God, 
the Creator of all things. Jesus is no mere deistic ab- 
straction of God, but the one, true living, only Lord 


st. John's teaching in his first epistle 225 

God, our Savior Jesus Christ; the adorable One, our 
Creator and Governor and Redeemer, the God of Gene- 
sis and the God of the New Testament; “the Alpha and 
the Omega, the beginning and the end.” 

Another dogma of Gnosticism was that there was no 
real evil in sin. The Gnostics’ view of sin shaped their 
views as to the person of Christ, the atonement, and 
salvation, and hence their conduct. One cannot hold 
a scriptural view of the atonement made by God through 
Christ without having a scriptural view of sin. 

There can be no true theory of society proclaimed 
unless we see the heinousness of sin and its relation to 
all social ills and disorders. No messenger of the Gospel 
can publish God’s redeeming purpose as “the power of 
God unto salvation to every one that believeth,” unless 
he has an adequate conception of the enormity of sin. 

Neither can we hold a consistent theory of ethics 
nor live up to that high standard of morality which 
Christ and the apostles have set before us unless we 
are gripped with a keen sense of sin’s seductive nature. 
In fact, the sin question is back of our theology, 
sociology, evangelism, and ethics. This remarkable fact 
the Gnostics dqnied, whereupbn St:. John boldly 
asserts, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive 
ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” But, notice 
further: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just 
to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all un- 
righteousness.” 

The first text announces that all mankind are by 
nature sin corrupted, sin polluted. He uses the term 
sin in the singular, in order to fix off within certain 
limits the doctrine of original depravity. He here uses 
the term “sin” in a most specific manner in order to 
mark sin as a principle. In the second text he uses the 
term “sins” in the plural in order to mark sins as acts of 


226 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


transgression. The only legitimate conclusion, accord- 
ing to the apostle's own words, is that sin exists after 
two modes, namely, (i) The original sin or moral im- 
purity ; the sin principle. (2) Sins as acts of transgres- 
sion. 

The race was seminally in Adam as its progenitor; 
and when Adam sinned he by the process of heredity 
handed down to his descendants a depraved nature. St. 
John’s proposition which he set before the Gnostics and 
all such cults was that man finds sin resident in himself 
which renders him helpless to extricate himself from 
sin. For this reason the apostle proceeds to show how 
man may be freed from sin. Hear him: “If we confess 
or sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, 
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 

Man’s sins have rendered him guilty and he needs 
pardon. God is willing to forgive us our sins. Man is 
by nature polluted and needs cleansing. So the 
apostle adds: “And to cleanse us from all unrighteous- 
ness.” There is no possible way to justify the extreme 
and absurd conclusion that we cannot be freed from 
sin. John’s message is infinite guilt, infinite holiness, 
infinite atonement. “These things write I unto you that 
ye sin not.” 

Gnosticism rejected the atonement. The assump- 
tion was if there be no real evil in sin there would be 
no need of atonement. The mission of Christ, it asserted, 
was not to die for sin; and that all that He could do 
at His best was to instruct men how to regain the lost 
knowledge of God. They who attained this knowledge 
were saved. Therefore salvation was the result not of 
the atoning merits of Christ, but of gnosis (knowledge). 
For this reason the apostle announces that the Son of 
God is the great atoner for sin. “The blood of Jesus 
Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” St. Peter also 


st. John's teaching in his first epistle 227 

assures us that Jesus is the only Savior. “Neither is 
there salvation in any other, for there is none other 
name under heaven given among men whereby we must 
be saved” (Acts 4:12). 

The divine remedy for sin is the incarnation and the 
shed blood of Jesus Christ. We are here said to be 
cleansed from sin through the blood of Christ. The 
thoroughness of this cleansing: The all-important point 
is to allow the apostle’s phrase “from all sin,” to have its 
full weight and meaning. We must not get the purpose 
mixed up with the result. That is, the act of cleansing 
is not progressive in the sense that sin is continually 
in the heart and that the process of cleansing is con- 
stantly going on and does not reach completeness. The 
contrary fact is positively stated by the use of the 
present tense. He does not say “cleansed,” or “hath 
cleansed” but “cleanseth us from all sin.” The terms 
“cleanseth” and “all” denote the idea of completeness 
which distinguishes from that thought of mere subjuga- 
tion of sin, and that sin is a fixed principle in the heart 
and therefore there always will be that progressive 
cleansing. “The blood cleanseth us from all sin.” No sin 
stains are left in the heart for some future cleansing, 
but the heart is now cleansed. No sin stain remains. 

The apostle uses the present tense in order to show 
that the cleansing from all sin is not only completed, but 
also that this state of complete cleansing from all sin is 
consecutive and continuous. That is we are not only 
cleansed from all sin, but are constantly kept cleansed. 

It is not fair to attempt to throttle this text and 
others of like nature into silence in order to convey the 
horrid notion of “sinning Christians,” or that there is no 
freedom from all sins. It would be just as consistent to 
say “holy devil,” “white black bird,” or “honest thief,” as 
to say, “sinning Christians.” 


228 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


The Gnostics assumed to have a more profound 
gnosis or knowledge than even the apostles themselves. 
The gospel was good so far as it went, but the Gnostics 
had “a more excellent way.” Their mind was enlight- 
ened by the esoteric. That is they had the inner hidden 
mystery, his soul was steeped in light. He understood 
the depths. They were the profound advanced think- 
ers. 

In opposition to this heresy St. John announces 
the doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. “Ye 
have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all 
things.” “The anointing which ye have received of him 
abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach 
you.” These texts taken at their full value necessarily 
imply that the baptism of the Holy Spirit gives to the 
soul “unction” or “anointing.” In other words, they who 
are thus anointed are said to be “Christed.” The apostle 
used it in opposition to the Gnostics who opposed the 
anointing of the Holy Spirit. The Gnostics were unc- 
tionless or without unction, while the true disciples 
were anointed with the Holy Spirit. This anointing 
is of unspeakable and inestimable worth. It gives unc- 
tion, power, energy, courage, perseverance, patience, en- 
durance, and victory all along the line of battle. It is 
a sanctifying energy in the soul. The anointing is en- 
lightening, illuminating the mind, giving discernment, 
insight into the word of God. The Holy Spirit leads 
into all truth. “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, 
whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach 
you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, 
whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26). The 
Holy Spirit will not give any new revelation; but He 
will reveal to your mind depths of truth contained in the 
Word of God which will forever be hidden from merely 
human intellect. 


st. John's teaching in his first epistle 229 

The phrases, “bring all things to your remem- 
brance, M “ye know all things,” implies the all things 
which are needful to fit us for our Christian duties 
whether we be preachers or laymen; it cannot mean 
science and art or philosophy. The one great fact is 
that the anointing reveals all the essentials in God's 
plan of redemption. “He who knows this one thing,” 
says Ebrard, “that Jesus is the Christ, knows already 
in that one thing all ; there is no. most distant 
height or depth of truth which is not contained 
or involved in that simple proposition.” Alford says, 
“All things needful for right action.” Barnes says, 
“All things which it is essential that you should know 
on the subject of religion.” The Rev. Dr. Chalmers says, 
“The Spirit does not tell us anything that is out of the 
record; all that is within it He sends home with clear- 
ness and effect upon the mind.” And as another has 
said, “The illumination of the Holy Spirit is indispensable 
to a clear and correct apprehension of the great truths 
of Christianity.” 

The unction will so enlighten us as to reveal the 
true meaning of the word already given. This anointing 
will preserve us from fatal error. It will enable us to 
persevere in the faith once delivered to the saints. The 
Spirit-filled see the truth as others cannot. 

The annointing gives enlightenment so that we are 
enabled to apply the standard of truth as divinely given. 
The anointing further saves us from depending wholly 
upon what man says, thus delivering us from ecclesias- 
tical, hide-bound creeds and traditional faith. This 
anointing of the Holy Spirit will enable us to detect 
false teachers. It is the surest safeguard against error. 
How readily the anointed see the lie of anti-Christ, “Rus- 
sellism,” “Christian Science,” and such like, and hosts 
of other religious cults. 


23O THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

St. Paul says of this anointing, “Ye were sealed 
with that holy Spirit of promise” (Eph. 1:13). St. 
Peter says of such, “Who are kept by the power of God 
through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the 
last time” (I Pet. 1 15). 

Note the following facts : St. Paul says that we are 
“sealed with the Holy Spirit.” St. Peter says that we 
are “kept by the power of God.” That is, we are her- 
metically sealed, kept, and preserved in this state of 
salvation. All of which St. Peter says is “according to 
the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctifi- 
cation of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the 
blood of Jesus Christ.” Such a state of salvation is 
through the eternal purpose of God. It is through the 
sanctification of the Holy Spirit as the agent. It is 
through obedience on our part to all the known will of 
God. It is through the blood of Christ as the meritorious 
cause and end. 

As a further exposition of the text we may note: 
The Spirit Himself is the seal by which believers are 
known as God’s: I. In His inward operation on their 
hearts: (1) Revealing to them the all-sufficiency of the 
Savior, and (2) Enabling them to choose most heartily 
with His offers; (3) Satisfying them with Christ and 
His blessings, (4) Drawing out their hearts in love, 
trust, and cheerful obedience; (5) Conforming their 
wills and affections to the will of God. 

II. In outward effects of His working: (1) Gen- 
erally, in their contrast to their former life, read II Cor. 
5:17; (2) In their renewal in knowledge, righteous- 
ness, and holiness; (3) In their sacrifice points of re- 
semblance to Christ; (4) In their active interest in 
Christ’s work and kingdom ; (5) In their visible ripen- 

ing for heaven. One fact remains, as Alford has re- 
marked, “The divine unction does not supersede minis- 


st. John's teaching in his first epistle 231 

terial teaching, but surmounts it.” The Holy Spirit is 
our comforter, helper, and leader. 

This anointing preserves us against those who 
oppose it. There is a marked difference from those who 
have the unction and those who have it not. Christ is 
said to baptize with the Holy Spirit. See John 1 133. 
He also sends the Holy Spirit. See John 15:26. The 
disciples were baptized with the Holy Spirit on the day 
of Pentecost. “And they were all filled with the Holy 
Ghost.” Christ was filled with the Holy Spirit that all 
His disciples might be Spirit-filled. 

With the Gnostics God was an unknown God. Gnos- 
ticism at its best was guesswork ; all is hypothetical ; 
nothing real, nothing concrete. The Gnostics having 
assiduously trained the intellect in the loftiest and deep- 
est thoughts had it been possible for man by his own 
wisdom to have found out God, surely in that classic 
land with all its ancient lore, they should have reached 
the most consummate knowledge of God and moral per- 
fection. It is in Asia Minor where the human intellect 
displayed its utmost subtlety and splendid and loftiest, 
deepest thoughts. Yet at its best it only reached the 
“fair humanities” of Paganism. The atmosphere of the 
apostle is not one of fog and doubt; he is not sailing an 
unknown sea, neither is he without chart or compass. 
Hear him: “We do know that we have passed from 
death unto life.” “Hereby know we that we are in 
him.” “We do know that we know him.” St. John 
here seems to have caught the song of Solomon : “For, 
lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the 
flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing 
of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in 
our land.” He treads the delectable mountains in fellow- 
ship with Christ in the heavenlies. 


232 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

“Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! 

Oh what a foretaste of glory divine! 

Heir of salvation, purchase of God, 

Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.” 

On the other hand the self-deluded Gnostic at best could 
only say, 

“Immortal Greece, dear land of glorious lays, 

Lo, here the unknown God of thine unconscious praise.” 

“We do know,” says the apostle, we perceive God with 
certainty, we have a distinct and certain knowledge of 
acquaintance with God. We have no doubt in our mind 
regarding our having passed out of the night of moral 
darkness into the light of God. We are conscious that 
we are now the sons of God. We are firmly assured 
that “our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son 
Jesus Christ.” We are conscious that we have an unc- 
tion from the Holy One. We know with certainty that 
the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. We 
recollect when we were familiar with Jesus Christ in 
the days of His flesh. We have no doubt in our mind 
regarding the future state. We are firmly assured that 
no soul will be admitted into a state of endless blessed- 
ness unless it be cleansed from all sin. We do know 
that Jesus Christ is the only way to God and heaven. 
We do know - that we have a clear distinct knowledge 
of the truth. We do know that this knowledge has not 
been acquired from study but is a direct revelation from 
God. We do know that we have attained unto the true 
knowledge of God through Jesus Christ which you have 
been unable to attain through your much boasted 
knowledge, which is proof of its confessed inadequacy. 
Your so-called philosophy is simply a jungle of phrases, 
the languid repetition of effete watchwords, the unin- 
telligent echo of empty formulae. (This is also true 
of “Christian Science,” falsely so-called.) Moreover we 


st. John's teaching in his first epistle 233 

do know that you Gnostics, according to your character 
and conduct, have proved yourselves to be “liars," “se- 
ducers/' “deceivers/’ “anti-Christs/' and “false prophets/' 
and that all such religious cults are the promoters of the 
work of the devil. 

Still another theory. Each Gnostic professed to be 
the “spiritual seed." But in conjunction with this notion 
they also held that any action, good or bad, was allow- 
able from which the Spirit could derive no additional 
knowledge neither could the soul be polluted by sin. 
Whereupon the apostle says, “He that committeth sin is 
of the devil/’ and that “whosoever is born of God doth 
not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him; and he 
cannot sin, because he is born of God" (3:9). The first 
proposition is that he who commits sin is a child of 
the devil and like him in character. He who sins imi- 
tates the devil. He who doeth righteousness imitates 
Christ. 

Augustine says, “There is no salvation save in the 
fellowship of God. Let us not say we have fellowship 
with Him if we walk in darkness. Every one that 
doeth sin is of the devil. Sin is not of God. Sin is 
iniquity." It necessarily follows by virtue of the Chris- 
tian’s relation to God that he cannot do these works. 
What works? St. John says, sin; for sin is of the devil. 
Note the expression, “His seed." The Gnostics asserted 
that they were of the “spiritual seed," yet they sinned, 
lived in an unholy state. John asserts that the seed of 
God abides as an inward force of divine life; that the 
new moral nature and union and fellowship with God 
also was abiding and for this reason the one who is 
born of God, “sinneth not." “He cannot sin," not for 
want of power but for want of disposition. Certainly 
man is a peccable being; that is, he has the capacity to 
sin (he is a moral creature), he is liable to sin, to 


234 THE REDEEMING purpose of god 

transgress God’s laws, in the same sense that he has 
the capacity or power to commit suicide. But my con- 
tention is that no normal mind will commit suicide. So 
also no normal Christian will sin. 

The writer is well aware of the fact that many of 
the opposers of the doctrine of holiness falsely accuse 
us of teaching that when a person is wholly sanctified he 
is at the same time made impeccable. No sane man ever 
taught such a doctrine. Our contention is this, namely, 
that they who are born of God do not sin ; not for want 
of power but for want of disposition. The Christian 
does not desire or consent to sin therefore he does not 
sin. Sin proceeds from the volition. Volition is a word 
derived from the word volo , which means, I will, choose. 
Therefore “the act of determining choice, of forming 
a purpose.” My proposition is this, namely, that no man 
with bad intention can be at the same time a Chris- 
tian. Sin is from a law of the mind, namely, volition. 
There can be no sin unless there is a desire to sin or 
purpose to sin. Sin cannot be purposeless. There 
must of necessity be purpose back of the act if it be 
sin. Purpose means to propose. It is that which a 
person sets before himself as the object to be gained or 
accomplished; the end or aim which one has in view. 
It further means that which one intends to do, and in- 
tention is design. The motive is back of all sin. Jesus 
asserted this when He said, “Whosoever looketh on a 
woman to lust ater her hath committed adultery with 
her already in his heart” (Matt. 5:28). The law of God 
may be violated from a covert act or motive extending 
to the thoughts only, thus men may sin in their hearts 
without entering into the actual outward act. 

There is no law in the universe or correct mode of 
reasoning that can overthrow the foregoing facts. They 
are principles that will hold good 


st. John's teaching in his first epistle 235 

“Until the stars grow cold 
And the heavens grow old 
And the leaves of the judgment book unfold.” 

The only possible conclusion which can be reached 
according to a legitimate mode of reasoning and in keep- 
ing with St. John’s message is that sinning is utterly in- 
compatible with the “new birth” and with “fellowship 
with God.” 

Moreover some false teachers of St. John’s time held 
that the moral law or commandments were devised for 
the purpose of enslaving men, and for this assumption 
they threw off all restraint of law. This class was 
known as Antinomians, that is, without law. Yet they 
professed fealty to the truth, and to God. But the 
apostle says, “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth 
not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not 
in him.” Two facts at least are here asserted. To know 
God in the scriptural sense is to be in union and fellow- 
ship with Him; and that no one can have experimental 
acquaintance with God unless he lives in sincere obedi- 
ence to God. They who disobey and do not act in ac- 
cordance with the commandments of God, although they 
may profess a state of grace, it is vain and false. As 
further proof Jesus Himself says, “Not every one that 
saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom 
of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father 
which is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). 

Sin is “lawlessness,” and therefore an insult to God 
and must meet divine judgment. If we would be Chris- 
tians we must hold inviolate the commandments of God. 

The offensiveness of sin to God may be seen in the 
manner in which He has dealt with it. He thrust the re- 
bellious out of heaven, casting them into hell. The 
disobedient He ejected from the garden of paradise, and 
the final impenitent He will cast into a devil’s hell. It 


236 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

is a false notion that we may know God yet disobey 
His commandments. If we truly know God we will keep 
His commandments. If we carefully follow the apostle’s 
line of thought we shall see that the commandments are 
the product of infinite intelligence and for man to obey. 
Love of God is the motive back of the commandments. 
For this reason John says, “Whoso keepeth his word, 
in him verily is the love of God perfected.” 

It is the greatest falsehood possible to assert that 
one may be a Christian yet disregard and disobey the 
commandments. He who professes to be a Christian 
and does not keep the commandments the apostle says 
is a liar and the truth is not in him. Jesus Christ makes 
the keeping of the commandments the-basis of our abid- 
ing in His love. “If ye keep my commandments, ye 
shall abide in my love”; and St. John says, “whoso keep- 
eth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected.” 
“We do know that we know him if we keep his com- 
mandments.” Thus we are authoritatively informed that 
one of the chief characteristics of a Christian is to keep 
God’s commandments. This the Christian owes to his 
Lord, whose holy name he thus takes upon himself. 

If a professor of religion is not living a Christ-like 
life he is thereby disproving the truth of the avowal 
he is making. Disobedience to the commandments is 
utterly inconsistent with the Christian life. “He that 
saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, 
is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (2:4). Here the 
use of the tense in its most vigorous precision, “keep- 
eth not.” The keeping of the commandments is of con- 
stant uninterrupted action. The word of God may rule 
our words, thoughts, and actions, helping us continually 
to keep the commandments. This is a part of God’s 
gracious plan concerning us. 

Sinning is incompatible with the life of a Christian, 


st. John's teaching in his first epistle 237 

Such is John’s teaching. Salvation is a present reality. 
“Ye are saved,” not that “ye shall be saved.” See 
Eph. 2:8. 

To be saved from sin is the climax, the consumma- 
tion, the essence of salvation. “That ye might be filled 
with all the fulness of God” (Eph. 3:19). “Now unto 
him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present 
you faultless before the presence of his glory with ex- 
ceeding joy” (Jude 24). “These things write I unto 
you, that ye sin not” (I John 2:1). Holiness of heart 
and of life is the most essential thing in salvation. The 
whole value in this religion is in that it saves from sin. 
Whatever incidental truth a religion may have if it does 
not save from sin it is in reality no better than the 
most erroneous. 

These are three fatal guides in the walk of life, the 
world, the flesh, and the devil. “Wherein in time past 
ye walked according to the course of this world, accord- 
ing to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit 
that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 
2:2). A sanctified life is one meet for the Master’s use. 

Sinning is utterly inconsistent with the new birth. 
“Whosoever is born of God sinneth not.” One of the 
sub-facts of the text is that however bright and hope- 
ful the natural birth opens it ultimately ends in defeat. 
This fact is “attested by every grave.” But if defeat is 
the one thing so inevitable in our natural birth St. 
John assures us that the one supreme fact in the life of 
every one “born of God” is victory — victory over the 
world, victory over sin, victory over self, victory over the 
devil. 

He who is born of God is unable to go on in sin, 
for God’s true stock and family are true to the majesty 
of their birth. They abide in Him. As one has aptly 
said, “Such are the plants of God’s planting in His gar- 


238 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


den.” “He cannot sin.” It is against the nature and ex- 
tent of the new birth. He has a new nature here called 
the “seed of God,” or “His seed.” 

Sinning is utterally incompatible with the seed of 
God abiding in those who are “born of God.” The 
apostle says, “His seed remaineth in him.” Here St. 
John uses the form “remaineth.” It marks the state of 
those who have been born of God consequent on an act. 
“Remaineth.” Continuing uninterrupted. The tense is 
used with the most significant accuracy denoting that in 
the sphere of the Christian there can be no such conduct 
as sinning. The apostle shows that the form of the 
Christian life is not to sin. The sinning state and the 
non-sinning state are as separate as hell and heaven. He 
who lives a life of righteousness certainly does not live 
a life of sin. 

The apostle postulates the fact that sinning is im- 
possible to the child of God. If we do not accept this 
fact we must refuse the testimony of Christ, for He 
says, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” He does 
not say “Ye ought not,” but “Ye cannot.” We are either 
in a state of sin or in a state of salvation from sin. It 
is not possible to draw any other legitimate inference. 

Birth and victory is one of St. John’s blessed themes, 
“We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not” 
(5:18). Every individual who is begotten of God shares 
in the certainty of victory over sin. 

William Alexander, D. D., D. C. L., translates I John 
3 :g thus : “Whosoever is born of God is not a doer of sin, 
and he cannot continue in sinning, because he is born of 
God.” Also, “The triumph is not merely one of a school, 
or of a party. The question rings with triumphant 
challenge down the ranks, ‘Who is the ever-conqueror of 
the world, but the ever-believer that Jesus is the Son of 
God?’ ” 


st. John's teaching in his first epistle 239 

The redemptive work of Christ is to save from sin. 
“For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that 
he might destroy the works of the devil” (3:8). His 
name shall be called Jesus, “For he shall save his people 
from their sins,” “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh 
away the sin of the world.” The entire mission of Jesus 
was not only to oppose sin, but to make an atonement 
for sin that all men might be saved from sin. 

Sinning is contrary to the character, state, and con- 
duct of the Christian. St. John's argument is dominated 
with this central thought, namely, that Christian char- 
acter is molded after the character of Christ; and that 
the Christian character and practice or conduct cannot 
be separated from the character and life of Christ. This 
is the chief characteristic of this Epistle. Says John, “He 
that committeth sin is of the devil.” “We know that 
whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but he that is 
begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one 
toucheth him not.” “In this the children of God are 
manifest and the children of the devil.” These expres- 
sions of the apostle place us on solid footing; they as- 
sure us 

(1) That they who commit sin are of the devil. 
That sinning belongs to the baser sort, not to the royal 
sons and daughters of the Almighty. 

(2) That they who are begotten of God are vic- 
torious over the world, self, and Satan, “that wicked one 
toucheth him not.” 

The apostle proves by the comparison of characters 
that sinning is utterly inconsistent with the Christian 
life: “In this the children of God are manifest and the 
children of the devil.” Here divergent characters as 
distinct and separate one from the other asiheaven and 
hell. The children of God and the children of the devil. 
The apostle puts on each one an earmark corresponding 


240 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


to his character and conduct. He who sins has on him 
the earmarks of the devil. He that sinneth not has on 
him the earmarks of a child of God ; for the apostle says, 
“In this the children of God are manifest, and the chil- 
dren of the devil.” These words are like grappling 
hooks, they lay hold upon us to save us from the 
monster whirlpool of godlessness. There are but two 
kingdoms — one is God’s, the other Satan’s; one is a 
kingdom of righteousness, the other the kingdom of sin 
or “lawlessness.” We are either in the one or in the 
the other. As one has said, “Man cannot find or make 
a third domain; if he is not in the one, he is in the 
other.” 

The apostle states a truth which Christ had pre- 
viously stated, namely, “He that committeth sin is the 
servant of sin”; “Ye cannot serve God and mammon”; 
“No man can serve two masters”; “By their fruit ye 
shall know them.” Hence no man can serve God and 
Satan at the same time. There is therefore an immense 
presumption in favor of the correctness of our position, 
for it accords with the testimony of Christ and of the 
apostles. 

Any other view is wholly unwarrantable, (i) Be- 
cause it is a radical departure from the teachings of Christ 
and of the apostles. (2) The main argument for the 
theory of “sinning” Christians is not tenable. To be a 
sinner and a saint at the same time is a moral impos- 
sibility. If a saint, then not a sinner, and if a sinner, 
then not a saint. (3) The theory has no satisfactory 
explanation considering the redeeming purpose of 
Christ, and the oft repeated injunction not to sin, as well 
as the exceeding precious promises which hold out the 
inducement of salvation from sin. (4) It limits the 
atoning merits of Christ, hence is anti-Christian in its 
tendency. 


st. John's teaching in his first epistle 241 


Sinning is altogether inconsistent with the nature 
and extent of the new birth, the life and love of God 
in the soul. They who are born of God are born to a 
life of righteousness. Those who commit sin oppose the 
will of God and the work of Christ. 

It is also altogether opposed to the true knowledge 
of Christ. See 3 :6. It is contrary to the features which 
always mark God’s children (verse 10). God’s children 
are reborn — born to a life of righteousness and love. 
Hence “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin,” 
for the seed of another life is in him ; cannot sin, because 
he is born of God. 

“He cannot sin.” Blessed inability! Cannot be sinning, 
or living a life out of harmony with God’s will and Word. 
Cannot! Why? Because in the new product of God’s Spirit 
the principle of righteousness is so active that a sinning life 
is entirely out of the question. Virtue is so strong that it 
expels its opposite. A true child of God cannot be in aliena- 
tion of spirit from his Father in heaven, even for one 
moment. So an honest servant cannot steal, a faithful husband 
cannot be unfaithful. One passionately fond of accuracy cannot 
be systematically inaccurate. So, also a child of God cannot be 
opposed to his Father’s will, simply because, ex hypothesis the 
product of the new birth i-s a child who will will as his Father 
wills. Into errors of judgment he may fall, by sudden gusts of 
temptation he may be overtaken and so surprised into a fault; 
but from sin, from the sin of living alien to God, he was de- 
livered once and for ever, when, by the change in his nature, he 
was born again. He was “renewed . . . after the image of him 
that created him "(Pulpit Commentary). 

The same writer also assures us that, “the sinning 
life is opposed to the everlasting statute of the gospel. 
So the apostle argues here. The sinning life is one of 
lawlessness, one of selfishness. Unlovingness and un- 
righteousness are not of God.” 

Sinning cannot co-exist with the Christian life. To 
assert that sinning is co-existent with the life of a Chris- 


242 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


tian is as ridiculous as it is absurd. Sin is the act of a 
person, and the act and the person cannot be separated. 
The sin therefore is co-extended with the person who 
has committed it. A moral impossibility for sin and the 
Christian to co-exist together at the same time — a thought 
utterly incongruous with the Christian life; for the rea- 
son that a life of sin and a Christian life is entirely out 
of harmony one with the other. The Christian by virtue 
of a law of his moral character must do all of God’s will. 
There must be a consistency between the character or 
state of a Christian and his conduct; but sinning intro- 
duces inconsistency, hence sinning and the Christian life 
are incompatible. That sinning and Christ-likeness can- 
not co-exist, and righteousness and unrighteousness can- 
not exist at the same time in the life of a Christian is 
the chief fact of John’s message. 

In view of John’s statement of the Christian life 
we may well ask, What are the fruits of Christianity? 

That there are certain inevitable results produced 
on the character and in the life of every genuine Chris- 
tian by the incoming of the life of God. The goodness of 
a tree cannot be doubted while it bringeth forth good 
fruit. If its fruit be godly it must necessarily be of God. 
If the fruit be evil it must be of anti-Christ. This law 
is the correctness of the test. 

The life of the Christians afforded a striking contrast 
to the vices of the Gnostics and many of those who 
opposed genuine Christianity. The Gnostics attempted 
justification in their disregard of the commandments, 
and their life of degrading sins was the result. Tersely 
and correctly stated they were “religious sinners,” re- 
ligious profligates, yet they were professed Christians. 
In opposition to. this heresy St. John presents the ex, 
ternal fruits which are necessarily connected with the 
character and life of a genuine Christian. 


st. John's teaching in his first epistle 243 

1. They have the fruit of brotherly love. 

2. They do not sin, “Whosoever is born of God 
doth not commit sin.” 

3. They keep God’s commandments. 

4. They have the indwelling Christ. 

5. They have a rational hope of seeing Jesus as 
He is. 

These are some of the evidences of genuine Chris- 
tian experience. 

The apostle now states a few evidences of a corrupt 
tree : “He that committeth sin is of the devil,” “He that 
saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, 
is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” “He that hateth 
his brother is in darkness.” “Whoso hath this world’s 
good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up 
his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the 
love of God in him?” 

If “sin is lawlessness,” to disregard and to disobey 
the commandments is religious anarchy. The lawless 
are opposed to the commandments of God. Sin is viola- 
tion of the commandments. Therefore the apostle says, 
“Sin is the transgression of the law.” “Every one that 
doeth sin doth also lawlessness ; and sin is lawlessness.” 
St. John does not say, that sin is the result of human 
weakness or imperfection or of infirmity, but is a 
“transgression of the law.” He does not say that sin 
is for want of rightly organized human society; but the 
“transgression of the law.” 

Sinning is utterly inconsistent with abiding in 
Christ. Abiding in Christ is absolutely necessary for 
the following reasons: 

1. There is no way of access to God only through 
Jesus Christ. 2. There can be no justification without 
abiding in Christ. 3. There can be no communion with 
God without abiding in Christ. 4. There can be no 


244 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


peace of conscience or joy in the Holy Ghost, or rational 
hope of heaven without abiding in Christ. 

Christ is the source of our life, light, and strength. 
As Jesus said, “Abide in me, and I in you; as the branch 
cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine ; 
no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.” Two facts 
may here be noted, namely, just as a branch if severed 
from the vine (by virtue of a law in nature) must nec- 
essarily die, so also those who are severed from Christ 
(by virtue of a law in the moral universe) must 
die. To be cut off from life necessarily results 
in death. So that, if we are cut off from Christ, 
necessarily the result is spiritual death. Christ 
made it very plain that union with Him is necessary 
to spiritual life. This union involves faith, love, 
and obedience. Compare these statements: “For it is 
God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his 
good pleasure’’ (Phil. 2:13). “He that saith he abideth in 
him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” 
Let us carefully observe the tenses, for this will help 
us understand the whole (true) meaning. “Worketh in 
you,” “abideth,” “walk even as he walked.” There is 
implied continuing uninterrupted action. “God which 
worketh in you.” St. Paul uses this language to show 
that God is always working in us. Furthermore God is 
continuously doing this work in us according to His 
“will” and “His good pleasure.” There is perfect agree- 
ment between the children of God and Himself that His 
will and good pleasure shall always be done in them. 

“He that saith he abideth in him.” The word 
“abideth” requires that we give the sense constancy. 
That is, our state of union with Christ is continuous and 
uninterrupted. The phrase, “ought himself also so 
to walk,” denotes also a constant life of faith in action. 
The Christian is to continuously walk even as his Lord 


st. John's teaching in his first epistle 245 

walked. Moreover the term “ought” binds each Chris- 
tian to the performance of this moral obligation. There 
is a pattern given: the child of God makes that pattern 
his model. 

The Gnostics made righteousness of little value in 
comparison with the intellectual illumination. They, 
however, professed righteousness, yet lived in open vio- 
lation to the Word of God. St. John in opposition to 
this error says, “He that doeth righteousness is righteous 
even as he is righteous.” Thus asserted, comparative 
righteousness is of great value to the children of God 
in respect to the attaining of the righteousness of Christ. 
The Christian is in a state of comparison to that of 
Christ, not absolutely, but relatively. The Christian is 
relatively related to Christ, in that he is related to Him 
by kinship or consanguinity. Christ is our elder brother; 
and for this reason we are said to be conformed to His 
image, see Rom. 8:29. Having been “born of God” we 
are righteous internally. This righteousness St. John 
says necessarily corresponds to the righteousness of 
Christ, “as he is righteous.” 

This righteousness is internal. It is inwrought by 
the Holy Spirit. This particular righteousness here 
spoken of involves the quality or state of being righteous, 
as “he is righteous”; “pure in heart,” a state of freedom 
from all guilt and moral defilement. 

Acting in accordance with divine law, there cannot 
be internal righteousness without external holiness. 
Christians are not only acceptable in the sight of God, 
but live exemplary lives before men. They live in a 
righteous manner; honestly and uprightly. The right- 
eous keep the Golden Rule. Therefore all things 
“whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye 
even so to them.” 

The righteous are committed to do all the will 


246 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

of God. St. John makes mention of this high state of 
Christian character and conduct repeatedly. It is none 
other than “perfect love.” Read verse 3, chapter 3. 

This text and the context clearly point out that 
those who have been born of God still have the remains 
of the seed of sin in them. It clearly implies that there 
is in the heart of those who have been born again that 
they are not yet entirely freed from sin, that is, from 
inward moral pollution. We are therefore to be cleansed 
from all moral impurity, so that we may attain to that 
perfect state of moral completeness like that of Christ. 
“To be pure even as he is pure” is the apostle’s admoni- 
tion. Christ’s purity is the pattern of ours. St.^ John 
sets Christ before us as the test of Christian character 
and of conduct. Reader, does your religion exert a 
sanctifying power in your heart and life? 

Let us briefly consider the thought of John in ref- 
erence to sinning being inconsistent with the nature 
and extent of the atonement. The atoning blood of Je- 
sus Christ in its nature must by virtue of it being divine, 
be without let or limit in its saving efficacy. “The blood 
of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Christ 
was manifested to take away sin. Read John 1:29; 
I John 3:5. Saints are made free from sin. See Rom. 
6:18. The children of God cannot sin, but this is, in 
the very nature of the case, a moral “cannot.” 

Sinning is utterly inconsistent with the keeping and 
preserving power of God. “Now unto him that is able 
to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless 
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.” God 
who is able to save us from sin is also able to keep us 
from sin. “Who are kept by the power of God through 
faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” 

(I Pet. 1:5). 

Sinning is utterally inconsistent with the attitude of 


st. John's teaching in his first epistle 247 

the Christian’s will toward God. The avowed purpose 
of the Christian is to do all the will of God. “Thy will 
be done” is his prayer and purpose. As well blot out the 
Decalogue as to disregard the will of God. There can 
be no salvation without the continued co-operation of 
our will with the will of God. The submission of the 
will to God is co-extensive with our conversion. Sin is 
our enemy, and God’s eternal foe. It has filled earth 
with groans and hell with flames. We who have joined 
the army of God have turned our arms against sin and 
Satan. Yea, on coming to the altar of God we there 
vowed as did the child Hannibal to Hamilcar, that we 
would be the eternal foe of this enemy (sin) of God’s 
and ours. By our righteous choice and by the grace of 
God all sin is overcome. An impudent enemy once 
asked a general by way of taunt, what he was, for he 
had neither spear, nor bow, nor light armour. “I am,” 
said he, “The man who commands all these.” So we can 
say by the grace of God, “I am the man who commands 
the world, the flesh, and the devil.” 

St. John announces that it is the decree of heaven 
that we “sin not.” “These things write I unto you, that 
ye sin not” (I John 2:1). To “sin not” is no small 
task; but it is a very gratifying one. To assert that it is 
not possible to cease from sinning is to diminish the 
truthfulness of the apostle’s statement. John assumed 
the responsibility on the authority of God to assert, 
“that ye sin not” ; and that “he that committeth sin is of 
the devil,” and “whosoever is born of God doth not 
commit sin.” Tell me that sinning in the Christian life 
is in keeping with the plain Word of God? It is a libel 
of God’s revealed will as written in the Bible. To 
assert that the apostle here says, “I write unto you 
that ye may not sin,” is a perversion of the text. He 
does not say, “that ye may not sin” but “that ye sin 


248 THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 

not.” If, as some assert, “we sin daily in world, thought, 
and deed and at the same time are the children of God,” 
the whole spirit of this First Epistle needs revision, and 
we face unsurmountable difficulties. Christian faith re- 
quires us to hold to the teachings of the Bible. It is 
impossible to reconcile the teachings of the prophets, of 
Christ, and of the apostles with the theory of “sinning 
Christians.” It is inconsistent with Christian faith to 
hold to such a theory. The most grievous thing is that 
it is tainted with disbelief in the Word of God. 

The theory of “sinning Christians” has no satisfac- 
tory explanation as to how one can be a sinner and a 
saint at the same time. Its inconsistency may be further 
shown from John’s testimony in verses 3 to 6. All of 
which are conclusive against such a notion. “Hereby we 
do know that we know him, if we keep his command- 
ments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not 
his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in 
him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the 
love of God perfected : hereby know we that we are in 
him.” 

I call your attention once more to the thoughtful 
manner of the apostle in the use of tenses. Note the 
words “keepeth not his commandments, is a liar.” This 
denotes that he who professes to know Jesus Christ as 
his personal Savior and does not continuously keep the 
commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. 
Again, “whoso keepeth his word.” This also denotes a 
continuance and consecutive manner of life in keeping 
the commands, and such are said to have the love of 
God perfected in them; and by thus keeping the com- 
mands they manifest that they are of Christ. 

In the sixth verse, “He that saith he abideth in Him 
ought himself also so to walk, even as we walked,” the 
terms “abideth” and “walk” denote uninterrupted ac- 


st. John's teaching in his first epistle 249 

;tion. That is, we are all the time to abide in Christ, and 
all the time to walk even as Christ walked. 

St. John has shown that as we continue in the 
Christian life the law of God becomes more perfect and 
less irksome. The new birth brings one into that sphere 
where God’s law becomes our delight and loving obedi- 
ence the rule of our life. If born of God then are we 
sons. Thus begotten we have a filial nature, a filial love, 
a filial obedience. 

The apostle has proved beyond doubt that we stand 
in one of two relations to the commandments — either to 
the commandments as an outward dictation of divine 
authority in a rebellious sphere, or to the commandments 
as an inward principle of love, trust, and self-surren- 
der to God. He has shown that sinning is lawlessness 
against divine authority, hence of the devil. He has 
also proved that those who are born of God are actuated 
by an inward principle of love, faith, and obedience. 

The relation of the Christian to the commandments 
is one of loving filial obedience, and he who sins is a 
rebel against the authority of God. To assume that 
the Christian has no more to do with the commandments 
is tacitly to admit that the Christian life is one of an- 
archy. To assert that the commandments can be ig- 
nored, as well might we assume that God has vacated 
His throne and left the universe to be ruled by sin and 
Satan. The fact remains that God rules, and that the 
Christian is actuated and governed by the royal law of 
love. “The love of Christ,” says St. Paul, “constraineth 
me.” That is, the love of Christ impelleth me, and what 
was true of St. Paul is true of all genuine Christians. 
The love of God in us impells us to fulfil the law, for 
“love is the fulfilling of the law.” St. John admonishes 
Christians to keep themselves in the love of God. How 
shall one keep himself in the love of God? 


250 


THE REDEEMING PURPOSE OF GOD 


Let the apostle answer in his own words: “This 
is the love of God, that we keep his commandments ; and 
his commandments are not grievous.” “If a man love me, 
he will keep my words ; and my Father will love him, and 
we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” 
(Jesus). Christians do not serve in “the oldness of the 
letter” but in “the newness of the spirit.” They no 
longer act from the compelling force of the command- 
ments, but from the impelling force of love. The carnal, 
unrenewed nature says, “It is my duty,” the child of 
God says, “It is my delight.” For this reason, “We 
keep his commandments,” says St. John, “and do those 
things that are pleasing in his sight,” and “this is the 
love of God, that we keep his commandments.” Love 
service is not servile obedience, but a delight. 

John at last reaches the climax in his conception of 
love when he says, “God is love, and he that dwelleth 
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” He has 
traveled onward and upward in the progress of the 
divine life until he has reached the sum total of all 
that is worth while. Love is the dynamo that drives the 
moral machinery. Love is the resident force within 
impelling us onward midst the complex problems of life. 
“God is love.” Perfect love is in absolute harmony with 
infinite love. Living in communion with God and in the 
sweep of His will and keeping step with Him is a 
fact in the life of a genuine Christian. This may be 
denied, but it must be grappled with. There are some 
things in our creeds and life we can well afford to 
leave behind, but perfect love is indispensable for we 
shall need it most when all else will fail. Love never 
faileth. It cannot cease for “God is love.” We are not 
made perfect in love unless we have God’s love per- 
fected in us. 

This perfect love question is the consummation or 


st. John's teaching in his first epistle 251 

climax of John’s and of Paul’s vocabulary. With them 
perfect love continually regnant within the soul meant 
unbroken fellowship with the God of love, and a heritage 
surpassing the fondest earthly estates. 

Reader, is anything greater, anything more worthy, 
anything more noble than this love of which John 
writes? He could present no higher ideal or more per- 
fect standard for the Christian character and life than 
this. 

The crisis is on us to make choice of the teachings 
of Christ and of the apostles or to accept the theory of 
those who teach the inability of man to be fully and 
consciously saved from sin, and the inadequacy of Jesus 
Christ to save us from all sin. As we listen to the school 
of theologians who protest against the glorious doc- 
trine of “Christian perfection” and place their theory 
in the scale to be weighed as against the testimony of 
the prophets, of Christ, and of the apostles, and of those 
who have lived and died in the triumph of this blessed 
assurance, we can but feel and believe that John has 
not misled us, but has placed before us in no uncertain 
manner that whosoever will may be saved from sin, and 
even in this life be cleansed from all unrighteousness, 
living henceforth, by the grace of God, a life filled with 
perfect love. 



















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